Biking Walking and Eating across Italy

 Most everywhere we walked, the poppies, brilliant red, were in full bloom.                 Here are some of the other flowers that brightened our hikes Urospermum Dalechampil Blue Flax Domestic Rose Yellow Broom Lunaria Annua Cyclamen purpurascens Cypress Spurge Leopoldia comosa Rock rose Orchis Militaris Elderberry flower Rosa Corymbifera (thicket dog rose) Snapdragon

Our last few European Vacations have been "Camino Walks".  Once we began, we walked each day from town to town until we were done.  The days logistics consisted primarily of walking to our next nights lodging, and figuring out how to get in. This trip was more stressful, logistically.  Our transportation needs required a bit more than flying there and walking.  In the course of our travels, we used, in addition to our feet: planes, trains, subways, busses, private cars, Uber, taxis, and bicycles.  The planes, trains, and busses required advance reservations.  In addition, we took in the sights.  Since this is Italy, they all cost money to see, tickets are required (often months in advance), and all sights are closed on various days of the week and and times of day.  At one point, late last year, we built a spreadsheet of all the sights, open days, plane and bus schedules, and tried to figure out how to schedule a path through time that allowed us...

 When I visited Florence 15 years ago I recall the visiting the Baptistery,  the 1000 year old octagonal building next to the main cathedral,  as being an impactful event - I still remember the remarkable gold mosaics adorning the ceiling. Baptistery of St. John So when we got to Florence, I wanted to repeat the visit, to see how a different time and perspective had changed my perception of it.  Besides, I thought Mary would appreciate it, especially compared to the famous, but less impressive, church behind it. Photo of the ceiling from 15 years ago Like just about everything in Italy, you need to pay to get in.  Sadly, you can't just buy a ticket for the Baptistery: that would be too easy.  Instead, admittance is part of a "combo" ticket, of which there are many to choose from, depending upon which 3 or 5 other pay-to-get-in sites are part of the combo.  So I bought one of them.  The confusing part for me (perhaps I can blame Google Translate?) ...