Ciao to Australia ,Canada and the U.S.A.

Irei (yesterday), we arrived in Florence and once again Shirley the tour planner has struck gold. Our apartment is 5 blocks from the stazione which made it and easy walk of five minutes, three blocks from the Duomo, and there are many other famous places we are close to.

The apartamento is fabulous,3 large bedrooms, lounge room,3 bathrooms so all the group have their own which something all you girl and lads will understand, and the kitchen has all the mod con , dish washer ,microwave, coffee maker and lots of space. All the time Shirley put in to organizing this tour has,for all of us so far ,made this the experience of a life time.

Today is a free day and the group have their own ideas to what they wish to go and see.Shirley and I are off to see the more touristy things, then of course as I'm sure you understand off to shop till we both drop.

First cab off the rank is the Duomo,which is church that has a very beautiful outside and 440 steps to the top,which allows views of Florence in every direction of the compass, we have some good photos of this but not in the blog. Our next stop was to be the San Lorenzo makets, I found this the same old same old,markets don't change anywhere in the world,a lot of stuff over priced and most are selling the same type of thing. After lunch which we had at a little restorante,we continued our exploring,heading to the Ponte Vecchio bridge which has survived in time since 994ad. The bridge spans the Arno river and on top of it is a series of shopping out lets,from my view they seemed to be all jewelry shops. Great to see this medieval bridge has lasted but other than it is in Florence, not impressed by the shops.

It is funny that something not that great would lead us to a place where our hairs on our neck stood up,yes you have guessed it, shopping heaven. We have been staying in the main part of town and by crossing the bridge we discovered a new and exciting frontier,a place where a girls dreams can come true,genuine leather jackets, handbags to die for, clothing, gifts,oh so o.m.g. Boys not great for us,but if it keeps our girls happy then it is fantastic for us.

Shirley was in there, full steam ahead and found the thing that had alluded her for so long,that is right the famous item of clothing every girl must have in the wardrobe,THE LEATHER COAT. It was then that the buying bug struck ,a new handbag, cashmere scarf,and the normal pair of earrings,not bad for a 2hr stint.

We now went back to exploring, with all that hard and mentally testing shopping over, off to the Piazzale Michelangelo, this is on top of a hill and gives panoramic views of the city of Florence, absolutely beautiful, have to be there to completely understand. Got some photos then realized we had an appointment at 6pm to catch up with friends from the Newcastle area, Chrissy and Jenny, themselves travelling the world.

Right on time as Shirley and I entered the hotel and headed to the meeting place, the bar ,who should come out of the lift, the two girls.

We had a marvelous time swapping stories, the girl had me in stitches with their escapades thus far and will be looking forward to Tuscany were we will meet again.

What do you think, are we having fun and having a great time on our Italiano holiday, I would put my house on that ,but it has sold,more great news. I am finishing now and I hope all our new friends and our loving family are safe and well as we not sure with our children ,is it out of sight out of mind,mum would like a text sometime if you get the time.