Florence (or Firenze?)

One of those places known by two names. And our second time of visiting, as we came here best part of 10 years ago, as part of a wander around Tuscany and Perugia. The place is well known for the Ponte Vecchio, the bridge over the river on which centuries old shops (or should that be Olde Shoppes?) cling to the sides. They all sell jewellery, and not with a great amount of variation it has to be said, so for all its worth, its probably about the least interesting part of the city. We had some good sunshine, coffee and cake, a very nice pizza and wine lunch, and the obligatory gelato in the afternoon.

The other thing of interest was the Uffizi gallery, home to one of the worlds leading exhibitions of classical art, but the queues are always appalling, unless you think to book ahead. We waited for about 20 minutes for the line to go nowhere, with the prospect of a 60-90 minute wait in all, and gave up, opting instead for the gelato. I dare way the art will still be there in another 10 years time.

One thing that caught my eye was the ambulance, The inscription on the side seemed to apt. It seems to be a conjugation of ‘miserable’ and ‘recording’, which sums up the emergency service sirens in Italy. Remember the ‘Italian Job’ – the sirens are still the same.

We stopped in Florence overnight, and this morning did the drive to Venice. We are now poised for an assault over the bridge and into the city in the morning. Suns shining, and the forecast is good for a week, so fully intend to make the most of it!