Firenze! Comfy Beds!

Ciao bellas/bellos

We are now safely ensconced in Florence and yes, Lydia, Mina & Philip did indeed make it across Europe to join us, even if the journey, for them, was slightly fraught and delayed.

Set off from Viareggio yesterday morning, saying a fond farewell to Paradise and its large bunny rabbits. Seemed to take half of the campsite with us though, with sand emerging randomly throughout the day from trouser turn-ups, trainers and bags. We won't miss the hard floors, bruised bones or mosquitoes, but the site was so idyllic that we may, just may, return. (But this time with a bigger tent and the comfiest airbed we can find)

To keep you up to date with the 'loo saga', we just have to inform you that if you were to choose to use a loo anywhere in Europe, for any purpose, then do visit the loos at Viareggio train station. They are fantastically odd, each cubicle set in a converted lift, and the door only sliding open after the digital display outside informs you to insert 20 cents. The door then slides shut, trapping one inside this strange metal box - as you take a seat, you press a button to set the automated loo paper machine into action, which provides one square at a time (but no more than 10 squares, if you happen to be greedy) Once finished, you hold your hand under a laser beam to receive soap, then another beam for water, and finally another button for air. Once all is done, you press a big black button for the door to slide open again, which then closes behind you, sets the digital display to 'disinfecting' and disinfects/flushes the room before the next customer arrives. The 30th Century is officially here, in a small seaside train station toilet.

Expected to meet the Lempriere clan from the train at Florence station, but received a phone call half-way through the journey to let us know that they would be late due to their plane being delayed, but that they would tell us all about it later. Thought nothing more of it, due to the fact we are a day behind with UK/world news as the papers we receive are a day late, and we haven't watched any TV for weeks.

Finally met them at the train station, and were filled in on the news re: UK airports/terror scares etc - they were very very lucky to have flown to Italy at all yesterday. Their plane was due to leave at 6.30amish from Stansted, just before the flight cancellations began, so although they were delayed by about 4 hours, their plane took off and landed safely - any later flight and they would still be in England. They still had the rigamarole of packing their hand luggage into the hold, and putting passports etc into clear plastic bags, and the queues and queues of people around the airport. Keeping an eye on the situation & hoping that Lydia will be able to fly on Monday morning, to get back for work!

All were exhausted yesterday afternoon, so went to the Hotel Colomba by taxi, booked in, and flopped on the beds (beds! comfy beds!) before going out for a bite to eat for lunch, in a cafe overlooking Piazza della Repubblica. Wandered around, had ice-cream from the best gelateria this side of France, ('Perche No?' or 'Why Not?'), and retired to the hotel again to have catnaps (on the comfy beds!). Ate in the evening, had another ice cream from Perche No? and went back to enjoy the comfy beds and Go To The Land Of Nod.

Saw the Duomo, or Santa Maria del Fiore, (H for the 2nd time, A for the 23rd time) which is an amazing sight, however many times you've seen it. Begun in 1296, it took 170 years to complete the works, (originally designed to be the largest Roman Catholic church in the world) and it towers above the surrounding Renaissance buildings. This, as well as every other inch of the place, is crawling with tourists at the moment, as it really is 'high' season so is incredibly busy, and you become very adept at dodging over-zealous tour guides and ducking under cameras pointed at various famous objects.

Every step you take in this city, you are bombarded with culture, art, history and beauty (as well as very nice smells of food and ice cream) and one visit is never enough. Still, we're going to try and pack it all in, along with visits to the family and lots of sleep in the comfy beds. Will keep you all informed as to where we all are and whether or not we've all got our transport connections!

Going to sign off now, and possibly have a nap this afternoon, due to a particularly savage mosquito keeping us awake during the night with ferocious buzzings and bitings, before (possibly) the first of our family/friend visits this evening, Gian Carlo, Carla and Monica for supper.

As usual, hope you're all well and, Uxxxx Mxxxxxx, we will be in touch (very) shortly about the South of France...

Lots of love

A,H,L,M&P xxx

Viareggio (Still)

Good afternoon, to All and Sundry,

Weather here is rather hot (well, we wanted sun...), beating down in the daytime and balmy evenings (although the temperature seems to plummet at around 4am, so woe betide any fool who happens to be outside his sleeping bag)

Have had a quiet couple of days, just relaxing, cooling, chilling - haven't spent much time on the beach (due to sun, as mentioned above), apart from an hour on Sunday - we splashed out on the private beach, as we thought it would be a nice change and an escape from the crowds - it wasn't much nicer - think sardines in a can and odd toilets.

Well, the toilets were normal enough, but a strange lady attached to a dirty mop hovered outside, next to a glass bowl with some spare change and a toilet roll. Offered her money, asked how much (paying for a toilet on a private beach - whatever next), she shrugged her shoulders and peered into the glass bowl as money was deposited - looking likely to spring into an attack of some sort if you didn't offer enough to the toilet fund. Seemingly satisfied with the 3 cents we threw in, were then ushered to the nearest free cubicle, and she returned to her hovering state next to the glass bowl.

Think we will use the free beach from now on..

The Paradise campsite is still paradise - although you have to pay for the showers (80 cents each) and 'a shower' (meaning how long the water falls after a token is inserted) lasts around three and a half minutes. Now, three and a half minutes is just about long enough to wash one's hair (obviously depending on length) and shave two armpits and one leg. To shave the other leg, one must insert another token. Which means dripping one's way back to the token machine, inserting another, and making one's way back to the water, without losing precious time for the shaving of one's other leg. It's fun, it really is.

Another plus side to the site is that it hosts a large family of bunny rabbits. Or a family of large bunny rabbits. They're huge and are a great fascination for the children staying here. They're very tame, and at dusk, sit close by the groups of people, washing themselves and digging in the sand.

The surroundings really are picturesque here - the beach has an enormous backdrop of mountains and there are pine woods everywhere, with a protected section, like a nature reserve, inbetween the campsite and the beach. We've been hearing odd sounds throughout Europe (in the trees, not in our heads) which we think we've attributed to cicadas - they sit in the pine trees and make sounds not unlike electricity lines. Which we thought they were until the moment it twigged that there were no electricity lines nearby (did we tell you we're quick?).

The evenings are filled with gourmet feasts from the local supermarket (consisting of insalata, baguettes, prosciutto and cheese, and the odd cheap wine/beer) and card games and Daily Mail reading (you get what you get - no Times or Telegraph here...). Although last night was particularly exciting as all the electricity went out, so the only light for miles around was from our citronella candle. Cue all sorts of insects making a beeline for us! (Makes the citronella candle a little redundant, really) Yes, MumMina, H is using her lantern, as well as the booklight and our torches are very useful. A is getting used to camping, slowly, this being the first time she has ever spent a night on the ground. It is rather hard, the ground, and our coccyx's and hips are rather bruised from the lack of airbeds, but it's all part of the experience (and it's cheap!).

Anyway, enough of our exciting, adventurous news. Hope you're all fine and dandy - looking forward to seeing you Lemprieres in Florence on Thursday! Wishing that the Bruces were there too...

Lots of love

From the Not Quite Brown Enough Ones xxx