Firenze

Taking into account all wisdom published on the internet about NOT parking in Florence, we headed off to what was supposed to be the super-dooper new parking lot off the A1 built at the end of the tram line, which was not expensive and features a quick ride on the tram into Florence. Reality = if you didn't approach the super-dooper new parking lot from the A1 autostrade (which we didn't) then you can't actually access it. So what we witnessed was a gigantic brand new parking lot with almost no cars parked in it which we could circumnavigate, but not get into. Frustrating! After driving around for way longer than desired, we parked in some industrial estate hoping we wouldn't be towed/clamped, walked to the tram and scooted into Florence.

We wandered to the obligatory attractions of Florence, but I have to say that the entire experience was not all that enjoyable and the only thing you could (sort of) get from the experience was a) it would be horrible to be a native to Firenze and have to live in the city positively heaving with tourists and b) Florence is a victim of it's own fame. We heard one American guy stating that it just seemed to be one gigantic shopping mall for tourists. Pretty much summed it up... [I realise this is probably a case of committing culture-lovers' blasphemy. I am sure the city is perfectly lovely if you take all the people out of it.]

Just as we were waiting for the tram to come home Kate and I wandered into a nearby shopping mall in search of a loo and witnessed two ladies taking their dogs shopping with them, who did "their business" in the middle of the mall (think of this in the middle of Garden City and you could imagine our horror at the sight!) and then just walk off. Gobsmacking.Read more