Day 16- Day trip to Florence

Well up at 6.00 am as we had an early start to do our day trip to Florence from Livorno which is a road distance of about 70 kms.

We had breakfast delivered to our room which was ok but the bacon and scrambled eggs were lukewarm…

Anyway after breakfast we assembled in the Queens Lounge to await our call to meet the bus for the trip.

The weather we had been warned was a little cooler in Livorno after a thunderstorm last night…. We heard the thunder! It was expected that the day would warm up and Florence being inland would be a lot warmer…. Turned out to be true with temperatures in the high twenties. We did however get a rain shower at one stage.

The trip up in the bus was relaxing and our guide was very informative. I guess there was about 40 of us on the trip. They were mostly older people with many it seems from the US. Our guide was Danish but very knowledgeable on all things Florence.

After arriving in the outskirts of the city we had a short walk to the start of the tour. The highlights were the Ponte de Vechio, Medici Palace, Duomo, Palazzo Vecchio and seeing the replica of David. Our guide was virtually non stop on the commentary which was great. I learned more on the 3 hour we had with her than on the past 4 visits to Florence… great stuff.

The streets were as usual quite busy but not as busy as last year thankfully.

We had some free time around lunchtime and we stopped for a sandwich by the Arno River near the Pont de Vecchio. After this we had a drink at a street side restaurant bar which was fortunate as there was a heavy rain shower!

After this we made our way back to the meeting point with our guide… we stopped for an Aperol spritz in a bar which was quite refreshing!

The walk back to the bus and the trip back to the port was uneventful but I must admit to having a bit of a snooze!

Getting back to the QV we sorted out a drink as I am sitting in the Lido Lounge with a glass of beer enjoying the rest after walking about 15 kms today.

Tonight we have dinner in the Britannia Room which is our exclusive restaurant… Should be a good meal as we get a bit dressed up and I am looking forward to the roast lamb…. Robyn is having duck…. Hope it is ok for her.

Been a good and interesting day and I have enjoyed my 5th time in Florence….

Will sleep well…

Ps…. Learned today my granddaughter Mikayla did very well in the Australian all- schools ski championships… well done to both Mikayla and Cooper for their amazing efforts.

Also my other granddaughter Sienna was BOG in her grand final win with the Glen Iris Gladiators!!!

Picture of David… you know this is David of David and Goliath!