Day 9, 10 & 11. Florence.

Our relocation to Florence created no problems for us but the conductor on the train was run ragged by people trying to avoid paying. You had to hand it to him, In difficult circumstances he did a good job.
We are staying on the outskirts of town and the Via Francesco runs practically past our front door. It will reduce the first day's walk by over 3 kms.
Our major task here is to visit the Basilica Santa Croce for our first stamp in the pilgrim passport. We were unsuccessful on the Sunday ( bookshop in Basilica closed) but today we succeeded.
It was on the mid 90's we were here last during a two week Italian course. Shirl used to sightsee in the morning whilst I toiled in the classroom. We used to meet early afternoon in the Piazza della Signorina by the statue of David. It's all changed as the steps have been removed.
We have revisited all the popular places along with thousand of other tourists. The queues for the Uffizi, Duomo and the Basilica were huge. The city is taking it in.
We are anxious to start walking tomorrow and our plans are well advanced. Some of the places we were going to stay in are closed. They only open for the summer. It means a couple of longer days but it's manageable. There are several stages we won't due as the distances between accomodation are too long for us.
We are ready to go and looking forward to tomorrow.Read more