Joli Hotel Florence

... Pistoria.. Tried to find a shop open to buy beer (not stubbies) as cans are huge…and tissues for runny nose etc… seemed like an easy task but it is a very old town.. Very narrow streets.. A Sunday and nothing open… but we did see a bit of the town… some bits more than once as we went round and round and round… anyway found that there was a shop open in next town Monsummano… got supplies and then tried to find the B& ...

Cinque Terre is a place I have heard a lot about, but wasn't planning to see on this trip. There aren’t a lot of places to stay and I hadn’t done my research on which of the five towns would be the best to stay in. But thanks to some advice and a gentle nudge from some friends in Florence, I decided to spend two nights there and do "the hike". It was a good decision.

I stayed in a town called ...

There are a few reasons I went to Florence; it was easy to get to from Switzerland, I was running out of time to head south, and I found a decent looking hostel. Maybe not the best reasons, but I'm glad that’s how it worked out.

Usually when I meet people at hostels, everyone is leaving on different days and you only have a day or two to hang out. A bunch of people I met in Florence were ...

... too, and it really contributed to the experience. We also toured the Pitti Palace and stumbled upon some famous art we didn't even know was there. Among the cheap wine and free food, we learnt cool facts about this medieval place and the ruling of the Medici family. Also, (we didn't go into any) but Florence most likey has the best shoe shopping in the world. And a shoe museum. Just saying......Italy was off to a sweet start.

Now.. your Rome update!

Jus and Mur

... Ponte Vecchio was also the only bridge not to be destroyed by the Nazis in 1944. Today it is just full tourists and overpriced shops.

We made our way up to Piazza del Duomo where the cities most iconic land mark is, the Duomo. One of the worlds largest Cathedrals (the fourth to be exact) its red tiled dome dominates the Florence sky line. Personally the mix of Green, Pink and White just doesn't ...

... a good bottle alright but then couldn’t find his way back. All of the streets/alleys are narrow with tall brick walls and indistinguishable. Poor guy wandered about aimlessly for a while, just trying his key in every familiar entrance he saw until he lucked upon the right one.

... U shape with about 50 rooms filled with art. The Gallery is predominantly on the top (3rd) floor.

Since the preference was to portraiture or scenes depicting people, I wasn't particularly enamoured as anybody who has seen my budding art collection will testify. However seeing the work of Botticelli and the Birth of Venus in paticular was impressive and there were a couple of Canneletto's which appeased me but only a tiny bit. There were lots of ...