hot hot hot

Tuesday 10 July 2012  - Firenze flaming hot

Day 88 and 71 to go

Our night’s sleep was not a great one, feeling the heat and the noise from returning Contiki kids, keeping us awake at different times. We slept better after 8am when we got an extra couple of hours.

Once we did get up we showered, had breakfast, planned our day and headed for the 11am bus into Florence. It was not as hot heading in at this time as opposed to the 2pm of yesterday.

Once off the bus we wound our way down the little streets finding ones we did not follow yesterday. Our first stop was Pallazo Vechio where a replica of the statue ‘David’ stands alongside many other statues. I dodged the other tourists to take my photos and then we continued our walk on passed the Duomo and on to the market stalls once again. I picked up a few more souvenirs, enjoying the browsing. I could have bought and spent a lot more than I did. If only we had the room!

We then ducked down a small side street and stopped for a gnochi lunch and drink that was delicious. We followed it up with an icecream at one of the gelatarias. Yum.

With everything done for the day we waited at the bus stop and caught the bus back to the campground at 2pm. The worst bit about the return is the walk from the bus, it is a steep road with little shade and really takes it out of you.

Once back at the van we drank a heap of water, changed into our bathers, did a quick lot of hand washing before making our way to the pool. It was busy in the pool area with many taking advantage of the cool water. It was wonderful in and again refreshing. Once cooled off I read my book while lying on a lazy boy. It was quite warm despite finding a shady spot and we were soon looking for the water again.

After our second dip we returned to the camper to play cards. Once I finished beating Paul we sorted out where we are heading to over the next few days. He rang Francesco to let him know we would be arriving tomorrow. We then went to reception to use the Wifi and check up on emails, Facebook and coming destinations.  It was quite slow and frustrating so we didn’t get too much done.

With as much done as we could we returned to the restaurant where we enjoyed a pizza and drinks. Making for interesting noises on the walk back to the van.  We lit the citronella candle to keep the mozzies at bay, listened to music and checked out our Europe driving atlas. Before returning to the cards where I beat Paul again.

It was then time to try to get some sleep in our hot little van.