There and Back Again: A Tommy Tale

13 September Accademia Galleria Santa Maria del Fiore Dome climb  --- Accademia Galleria Today (Wednesday) was my first day with my bags, and therefore my first day I was mentally in Florence. This morning I set out to make a reservation for the Accademia Galleria  using my Firenze card to guarantee a spot.  The earliest time was 1:45 so I'm still not sure how the card guaranteed me a spot regardless of space, but I didn't want to argue.  I went to get some food and joined my tour of the Cathedral.  Santa Maria del Fiore I'd like to say I learned a lot but I didn't. I'm not sure what the relationship is with the Opera del Duomo (OPA) . I later learned that at least the pass options available to go to multiple sites run by a different company, so it's possible their tour guides (while licensed) are also contracted out.  Most of this is no fault of the tour guide, but the lady who lead the tour project her voice well (which to a degree had to do with the loc...

 I'm back, back again . . . tl;dr Almost came home early because BA made me miss my connecting flight, my bags were lost twice, the Italian bureaucracy puts the awfulness of American bureaucracy to shame, and today I really thought I wouldn't get my missing bag in time for Saturday's first day of hiking which would lead me to coming home early....but....I got my bags and got a new lease on the trip. (I'm not proof reading this...it's 1:34 and need to get some sleep, but I'm sorry if any of it (or most of it) makes no sense. I have a weird writing voice that is hard to punctuate and I typically overly complicate my prose....good luck.) I really, very seriously almost gave up and come home 48 hours into a five week trip. After missing my  flight because British Airways likes to BA; BA initially losing my bag (big ups to AirTags for coming in clutch x2), only to mostly redeem themselves by getting me to Florence via Rome at a much better 6:47 pm vs original flight...