The longest leg of our trip this summer, by far, is the 5,800 miles from San Francisco to London, with 750 more miles from London onto Florence. The flight was good, though we were about 45 minutes late leaving San Francisco.

And then when we landed in London, we had to trek across the city from Heathrow to London City airport, where our connecting flight to Italy departed in the early afternoon. We landed at Heathrow, then took the Heathrow Express train to Paddington Station, where we transferred to the Elizabeth line for a ride out to Custom House and a short Uber ride to the airport (finally).

We arrived one hour before our flight, checked our bags and caught our breath for a couple minutes before it was time to board.

Two hours later, we landed in Florence, tired but happy we actually made it. Changing airports stinks, and changing on a short timetable stinks even more.

But then we were in Florence, home of the Medicis and cradle of the Renaissance. We went for a walk along the river and ate dinner outside in a piazza full of young Italians enjoying their Friday night out.

The Arno River at sunset.