Spent many splendid hours traversing Florence, and didn't realize the hotel (The Minerva) only took Master Charge cards and I only had American Express and Visa. On check out, I had to spend all but 34 dollars (lira) to pay for the two nights in the room. I had a one way ticket to Venice and the $34.00. Well, I made it to Venice, and, Immediately purchased a ticket on the train back to Rome. Then I looked for an American Express location where I could get enough money to have lunch and dinner. Once the funds were received, I went to Harry's Bar and had a most outstanding hamburger.

An aside on this story is the train trip from Venice to Rome was uneventful, but a week later there was a landslide that hit the train I was on, and too many people were killed..