Damn, you should be here!: A bit behind

Well I have got a bit behind this week. Here in Florence I have to go down 5 levels to get internet and last night I caught up on some emails.

Well we have been away for 4 and half weeks and have 4 weeks to go. So just past the halfway mark so I thought I would talk ablout some of the statistics of our trip.

We are now in Florence. This is our 12th hotel. We have survived 12 different coffee machines and many ways of making toast. Breakfast has varied from the full on cooked everything plus cereal, meat, cheese, fruit etc to no fruit, no toast just rolls and cheese and very sweet cereal.

We have been on one canal boat, 5 transport boats in Venice, 7 trains. Boy is that an experience. Typical was yesterday. The platform number for our train didn't go up on ther board until 15 mins before it left. There were at least a thousand people in the scrum to get on most with large baggage items. The baggage rack for our carriage was full before we got there so the rest of us had to lift our bags over all the bags already left in the aisle. At least we were in the right seats on the right train and it left and arrived on time.

Then there are the toilets, or should I say there aren't the toilets. Hundreds of people everywhere and no public toilets. Mostly we sit in a bar and have a drink (terrible!) so we can use the toilets. Or we sneak into MacDonalds. The queues in the ladies are horrendous and you often have to pay. Thats fine but the machines only work if you have the exact money so there is lots of money swapping as people try to get in. Then there are the toilets that flush while you sit on them and the taps that need a degree to make them go. And if there is a toilet they are very careful to hide the signs in case someone finds one and uses it!

It is not possible to get sunbirnt here. i have been wandering around for days in my new 7 euro top trying to get my back tanned an have managed almost nothing. No suntan lotion required. Also no bugs? No flies, no sand flies, no moths and until Florence no mosquitoes. It is amazing with all the food outside on stalls there are no flies.

The first thing we saw at the train station in Florence was McDonalds:)

The wine bottles all have corks. I had forgotten how tedious that is.

Anyway Kevin is waiting for me to go and get dinner. I will post some photos. Wish we had another day in Florence, a wonderful place. We have been on our feet all day today. A 9am ( before the crowds) we got the bus to Piazza Michelangelo which has wonderful views of the city. Then we got lost walking to the gardens and got an hour behind schedule. That was going to be our rest at lunch time before walking tour and Uffizi gallery so we didn't get back to hotel until 6pm. Buggered.