Firenze - Day 1

Not sure if any of you have a list of ‘things to do before you die’ if so you HAVE to put gondola ride on the list. How fantastic! Wine (on request), man in stripy shirt with looong stick, wonky boat and in some cases accordion and a Pavarotti sounding okie on the boat as well (we didn’t have the music part but we had the rest). You have to take out a second bond, but it really is cool to see Venice from a different perspective. Very romantic!

Well we are now in Firenze (known to those non speaking Italians as Florence). It was a bit of a mission to get here though, it may have been the Friday the 13th thing, but the trains were on strike for 8 hours and we had to get up at 3.30 am to go to the station (we had initially booked the respectable time of 11.30). The whole station/train was totally filthy… public transport is really not my thing as you know.

The hotel is not as nice compared to Venice (never nice to go backwards on holiday). The rooms are VERY hot and they are apparently only ‘switching the aircon on, on the 1 May’! Talk about false advertising, doesn’t say that on the web!

Other than that, I LOVE the city. Food is really cool and architecture/art is cooler. There is SUCH a vibe here! Music, food, wine......

Sorry to harp, BUT I simply cannot believe the amount of graffiti in Italy generally. People have defaced almost every part of the city from trains to important cultural infrastructure (see picture of the back of a church in Venice). It is really terrible and I wonder if the locals even see it anymore. From a tourist perspective it makes me feel a little robbed of an authentic experience, I almost want my money back!......... Am tired now had a long day..........

Ciao! (Sorry someone pointed out that my mind is always on food with the last blog and me saying 'Chow'!)