Europe 2002

From Ashford to Athens

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(days 23 to 23)

Alpine adventure (Days 1-4)
Viennese whirl (Days 5-9)
Slovenian theatre (Days 10-12)
Bombing it through Belgrade (Day 13)
Litohoro lazing (Days 14-16)
Olympic ideas (Days 17-19)
We are sailing (Days 20-21)
Assisi amblings (Days 22-23)
Breton brouhaha (Days 24-26)
Encore en Foix (Days 27-28)
Barcelona and back (Days 29-31)

Full diary [fast connections]


Day 23: Assisi > Perugia > Florence > Milan >

Another long walk with our seemingly heavier and heavier bags brought us to Assisi station again. I played an elaborate game of Pictionary with the woman in the ticket office to book our tickets for tonight's sleeper, then we were off on our way to Florence.


Florence


No, this is the wrong square


Queue queue queue

The way the train time panned out gave us five hours in Florence - five pretty hectic hours.

Right, dump the bags, strap the tent on. God that weighs a ton. Pizza. Pizza. To the main square. No, this is the wrong square. I remember it. Pizza. Pizza. This place is overrun with tourists. Here it is! Pizza funghi. Due. Grazie, grazie. Munch munch munch. I'm off to see the Uffizi. March march march. Hell that man has a big ice-cream. Uffizi! That's a big queue. A very big queue. Queue queue queue. Boring boring boring. Ah where are you from? Ah, jolly frustrating this queue. Rather. Stiff upper lip and all that, eh? Ha ha ha. Queue queue queue. Queue queue queue. Oh we're in. Another queue. Queue queue queue. Have some money. How kind. At last! Culture culture culture. Art art art. Birth of Venus. Botticelli. Canaletto. Michelangelo. Haven't I seen that before? Rush rush rush. Ooh very nice. Back outside. Big ice-cream. Not as big as that man's. River. ooh. Tower. Ooh. Cathedral. Ooh. Very busy. Too many tourists. I am a tourist. Sigh. Need more pizza. Grazie, grazie. E uno cappucino. Grazie, grazie. Not much time. Where's the station? Rush rush rush. Grab the bags. Rush rush rush. Half six, time to go...


Big ice-cream


Tower. Ooh.