The train arrived at Florence at five in the morning, so everyone piled onto the platform for a couple hours extra sleep. Some security guards decided to wake everyone up an hour or so later and then they walked off and let us all go back to sleep again. That’s obviously how they keep themselves entertained when things get a bit dull. Bastards, but at least they were not in the league of the Gestapo on the train to Lisbon.

We all awoke to discover that we were not in fact in the central Florence station but in some obscure little place just outside. It was a while before a train arrived to take us all into town.

Florence is a fantastic place to wander round, but the greatest attraction is for the art, being the centre of the Renaissance. Now whist in Australia, I quite happily checked out loads of Art Galleries, but this time round I didn’t have luxury of that level of funds. Of course, it would have been a crime to go to Florence and not check out at least one gallery, so I joined the massive queue outside the world famous Uffizi and waited for half a day to get it. It wasn’t worth it, or at least not in my opinion.

The galleries I had visited up to now have tended to be quite modern, understandable given that most of them were in Australia. The art was varied, from different time periods, different cultures and different styles. You walk into a Florence gallery and there is a picture of Jesus on the cross, then of the baby Jesus, then one of the last supper, then Jesus on the cross again and then the last supper again. As so it goes on, and on, and on. I left extremely disappointed.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought the whole idea of the Renaissance was that it marked the shift away from religious art. Never mind, at this point, I didn’t regret my shortage of funds.

Now Florence did have one very redeeming feature: a free campsite. Yes, a free campsite! Apparently, there was such a shortage of accommodation in Florence that the number of inter-railers sleeping rough was starting to become a bit of a problem. To solve the problem, the authorities built this campsite on the edge of town where all foreign nationals could stay for free. You didn’t need a tent, as there were a number of large wooden floors, protected by a canvas roof, where you could just throw down your sleeping bag. Not the height of luxury, especially when you discovered that the showers weren’t heated, but compared to another night on the trains, it was a blessing from heaven. We were very grateful.

To take maximum advantage of it, I decided to use Florence as a base for a while and travel out to Piza, which was not far away.

The main problem with the campsite was the lack of information as to how to get there. We knew which bus route, but not which direction. Off we all set in the wrong direction. When we eventually worked out our mistake, we didn’t know where to get off, so it was a case of trial and error.