(D) So today we left the gorgeous Firenze and headed for Roma. After a quick breakfast and lugging our backpacks, (fortune and good planning thankfully meant it was just around the corner), to the train station we then had an extra 45 min wait as the train was delayed. Once we were on the train though all was good, I love the fast trains and can't help but think Australia is way behind the times in this area; they go 250kms an hour - amazing!Once we arrived a...

(L) Off to a bit more of a slow start today - down to breakfast at 8ish!! We set off in the direction of the Bargello Museum as Deb really wanted to see all the statues it holds, unfortunately it is closed the second Sunday of every month... OF COURSE IT IS!!!! BOO HOO..... so we continued on our wanderings and what we found was a true delight. We stumbled quite unwittingly into a square where there was Christmas markets being held. As we walked around we heard ...

(D) We woke up relatively early so were ready for breakfast, which began at 7.30. It was a lovely spread which we partook of with gusto, our pizza last night was yummy but it was a long time ago! Afterwards we headed straight out to try and enjoy the Duomo, Palazzo Vecchio and Ponte Vecchio areas without quite as many tourists around as the afternoon before. As a strategy it worked perfectly - there were some people around but very few, almost none if compared wi...

(L) Time to once again move on so we were up and ready to go by 9am. We had a great run in to Florence with only one stop to get a little bit of petrol, just enough to get us back to the car hire place! I had paid the €65 for fuel so we could return the car empty as I never know how hard it will be to find somewhere on the drive back in..... especially after our experience in Athens!As it turned out, coming in on the A11, you go through the toll plaza ( ...

(D) The stupendous Cinque Terre, the Five Lands,..... aahhh what to say???!!! First off, SO many people were full of dire warnings in regards to coming here at this time of year - it'll be cold, and windy and horrible they said, to which we replied maybe, maybe not and if it is so be it but at least there won't be too many crowds. Regardless of any concerns, and maybe we were just incredibly lucky with the weather as indeed we have been our entire trip so...