Firenze 11-14 May

Day 7 (continued) - I arrive at Santa Maria Novella at 430pm - but don't arrive to hostel til almost 6pm!!!

Caught bus 12 but missed the stop as the Canadian couple Id met also going there said it wasn't the stop but got off?! I ended up at Piazza Michaelangelo (which Id been told was a great sunset spot and did have lovely views!) and then had to catch bus 13 back! Only new that thanks to a lovely local on the bus who was also helping another woman with his great English! Met a local couple on their honeymoon who are doing a cruise from Barcelona to Athens and are hating it! (Due to ages of other passengers / small amount of time on shore breaks and additional costs eg shore breaks & drinks etc).

Hostel Tasso was lovely and enjoyed my free drink on arrival. A little relax then went for a short walk (as wanted to rest my dodgy ankle) and arrived home 4 hours later having seen most of the sights and of course getting lost as usual!

Florence was beautiful by night lot by lamps in some areas, with cobblestone streets and Renaissance buildings.

Day 8 - After a quick espresso at the hostel I joined my Walkabout Tuscany day tour at the station. Meeting Gazelle from Dubai (originally Phillipines) who was traveling with her family. First stop was Siena which had incredibly photogenic streets and we had a guided tour of there. After I met Heather from the U.S. who gave me some fantastic tips for the Balkans as she'd lived in Macedonia for 3 years after doing community aid work there (she'd tacked on Italy to a work trip to Tunisia).

I had great company at our 3 course lunch with wine tasting joined by another couple of Americans and first generation Italian couple from Melbourne.

Afternoon stop in San Grimageno where Heather and I had coffee and ice cream to sober up!

Last stop Pisa where I climbed the tower and took the obligatory photos, laughing at the people pretending to be pushing the tower ...

I arrived back at the station just in time to meet my good friend and former house mate Sue who'd flown into Pisa from Edinburgh and had caught the bust to Florence.

We walked back to the hostel (somehow during the day my ankle had improved and never hurt again?!) then after a wash went out for dinner til late with plenty for us to catch up on!

Day 9 -

We lazily explored Florence - neither of us being art lovers so not worried we missed the galleries. We did climb the Duomo and had a sunset drink at Pizzale Michelangelo. The crowds within Florence were crazy and very off putting! They were also filming for a Dan Brown movie 'infierno' so a few streets were blocked off.

We did some shopping at H&M and even that had a 30 minute queue for the fitting room!!!!

We had a fantastic dinner near the hostel which felt like a great local experience and was finding I was loving the food since I'd arrived in the north! They brought what looked like a liter of wine out which we thankfully did not get through and only cost is 4€ each!

Day 10 -

After breakfast we headed for the station and booked our tickets to Venice. We then killed time at a local cafe waiting for our departure. The trip was only 2 hours - 45€ and we arrived approx 2.30pm.

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