Piazza Savonarola

An early start to travel to Florence via Zurich. A comfortable way to do it (well, not quite as comfortable as the direct flights, but they stopped about three weeks ago...). Neither flight was by any means full, and Edinburgh airport bore more resemblance to November 2021 when we travelled to Helsinki than it did to my/our various spring/summer travels.

Florence airport was pretty busy, but I didn't have to wait for luggage as I'd travelled, as usual, hand luggage only (a bit crammed for a whole week...). Taxi to the hotel, which is not the usual one, which is right by the historic centre. This is a little further out, but conversely it is close to the very architecturally pleasing Piazza Savonarola. I read a book through the afternoon, before heading out precisely when Florentine restaurants open for dinner, to grab a table without having booked one in a decent restaurant on the Piazza. After eating, I amused myself for a little while with some photos in the piazza after dark. It was grey here, and pretty warm. My Fitbit said around 15 degrees. I'm not so sure about that. On the heat map of Europe, this bit of Italy is not a great deal warmer than its usual temperatures. I'm staying here for a week, so that I don't have to travel during "normal' working hours, so a fair amount of time will be spent on calls in my hotel room and undertaking various "tasks", but at the same time I hope to see various people who are based here longer or shorter term, as well as attending a conference on Thursday and Friday.