The train began early as our train for Firenze left at 9:25 am. Who organised a holiday that involved getting up at 7:30? It turned out to have been quite lucky we were up early. We learnt the Italians had planned one of their infamous general strikes for the next day. The hotel owner said some trains would run, but the trentilalia website was down, surprise, surprise, and he could not tell us which. When we arrived in Firenze, we joined the train information que...

Today was busy. We started off collecting some souvenirs. It was never going to be easy selecting memento masks from the thousands available. Then after choosing the preferred making it back to shop it was seen it. The number of canals, tiny alleys, bridges and dead-end streets cannot be understated.After making our purchases, we decided they would be no fun to cart around for the rest of the holiday. Stan also had the problem of a nearly dead suitcase and too ma...

Today we travelled from Milan to Venice. An easy 2 hour train trip. For the first time all of the seats on the train were full. Once we left the Venice train station, the Grand Canal was right in front of us. We bought a 48 hour vaporetto ticket. Although it was expensive at 28 euro each, it made travel around Venice very easy and stress free. We walked most places, but often it was quicker to cross the Grand Canal by vaporetto rather than walk all of the way to ...

Today was the day for Monza! We had to navigate our way on the Metro to the urban trains and back again. For all that is written and said of the Italian train system, we found it very user friendly. The timetables in the station were clear and the trains were on time and regular.The Monza track is nowhere near the town so we risked a taxi. The taxi driver had no English. Luckily Stan remembered the word autoodromo. Once we got there we found it deserted except fo...

Training to Milan! The way to travel. There is no stress, great views and comfortable. We stopped in the town of Spiez for a bit over an hour. It was a very pretty town on a harbour surrounded by snow capped mountains.The only snag we have had today is Stan's purple case has blown a tyre, so the pressure was on to make it to Milan to find a new bag!. Then when we made it to Milan we joined the crowds of shoppers. The shops were absolutely packed right up to 7...