Livorno and Firenze We're actually at sea heading for Bergen in Norway so I'm using the time to catch up a bit. In Livorno, or Leghorn as the English call it, we took a bus to Florence. In retrospect, we should have followed the pattern we'd set and explored the countryside, but for some reason we didn't. The trip to Florence took about an hour. We'd expected to be dropped off in a central position and were going to look around by ourselves. Instead, we were dropped off and then told to follow the leader and she would show us the meeting point for the return trip to Livorno. It turned out to be a 20 minute brisk walk to the square where we were to meet that afternoon. From there we would have, in the afternoon, a 25 minute walk to the bus. Stuff that, I thought. By the time we finished the trek to the square I was stuffed. It was already hot and the pace had been too fast for me and that kinda wrecked my day from the start. With foresight we found out where we could meet the bus so at least we could avoid the long trek in the afternoon. We'd decided to hop on the hop on, hop off bus. As I said, it was already hot and the city was crowded. There were queues for everything, including the bus. Eventually one with space for us came along. We didn't want to sit in the open on top but from the inside it was difficult to see anything. The commentary didn't seem to match what we were seeing so all in all it wasn't very satisfactory. When we reached the lookout above the city we hopped off. Such a wonderful view of Florence. We wandered around admiring the legendary sights from our bird's eye view. I bought three little Pinocchio puppets for the grandchildren. Florence, or Tuscany, is the home of Pinocchio. His name is taken from the Italian word for pine, 'pino', from which he is made. After waiting for ages in the heat another bus came along and we returned to the city, crossing the Ponte Vecchio on the way. We had lunch in a street café and watched the crowds pass by. By then, the temperature was searing and I was exasperated, enervated and totally fed up. I wandered into the nearby square to have a look at a church (can't remember its name) and Alan went off to the Uffizi Gallery which was just around the corner. It was scorching in the square and I needed a seat. There were metal benches but they were out in the full sun. I had no choice but to sit there. EEEK! I was burnt! I shot into the air trying to smother my squeals of pain. People stared open mouthed at the strange sight of a red faced tourist leaping around in the heat, fanning her bottom with her hat. It's probably in the guide books by now under 'Strange Events'. Alan returned shortly after, discouraged by the crowds and queues. We learned later that there were about 6 cruise ships in, in addition to the usual number of summer tourists. Bloody cruise ships! Definitely not a good day to be in Florence. We caught the hop on bus again to the city gateway where we were to meet our bus back to Livorno. At least 20 coaches arrived and left while we waited in the meagre shade of a scraggly tree. A group of Japanese tourists came along to wait for their bus. They crowded under our shade and one actually pushed me against the wall and leant on me. I wasn't in a mood to mess with by then so gave him an almighty shove. Before he could whip out his samurai sword their coach came along, probably saving an international incident in Florence. We were relieved to get home that night and I'm glad that my lovely memories of our first trip to Florence remain and haven't been spoilt by a horrid hot day. Off to Monaco next.