Florence -It is easier for a rich man to pass through the eye of a needle ….

Italy must have the highest proportion of thieves, scammers in the world. And in Florence (Firenze) they are the most blatant. It says an awful lot for the Catholic religion. Three of us have been robbed, scammed, or had money appropriated. The Sheards are next in line. Noel was scammed in Rome. He helped someone who purportedly was in trouble an for his trouble was given two free leather coats worth about $600 each ! No payment required in any form. Except the guy was having trouble getting his petrol card to work – could Noel give him some money. 50 Euro is handed over. “Perhaps a little more?”. Another 50 Euro. 2 days later the ‘leather coats fell apart – and smelt awfully of plastic. Another member left her wallet in a café. On her return – no-one knew a thing about it. And then in Firenze, the gang of five decided to walk about 1.5 km from the station to the apartment. At one Piazza I started to go one way but the other 4, despite all of them saying they didn’t know where to go decided to charge off in another direction. As they walked off, a guy walked up to me and put his arm around me and started jostling my legs. I felt something in my pocket and yelled out “You’ve got my wallet” – the guy took off – with an accomplice. I dropped the suitcase and ran after him with a heavy pack on my pack. The others were too far away to help. By the time I dropped my pack near Kitty, 50 or so metres away, it was too late. Goodbye thief and goodbye wallet. Other stories today tell of people, in Firenze, just snatching backpacks and running. Others beg for money and when you get out your wallet, grab it and run off with it. These are things that happened TODAY, not some time in the past ! cafes near tourist places may charge 4 times that of more remote cafes. Churches that were free 30 years ago now charge $10 admittance – oh, and another $10 per person for an audio guide – just in case you want to know what you are seeing Yes, Italy – you have a lot to recommend you – as a training ground for thieves, rip-off merchants, scammers and other scum. Florence MUST be the worst. DO NOT COME HERE WITHOUT A LOADED GUN !!

However there are still fascinating historical things about Florence. It is a place not to be missed. The statue of David is still stunning (when it was completed it had to be guarded day and night in the Piazza due to the vandals of the day – things have only worsened since then). The Accademia, where David is housed was impressive – although David, quite rightly, dominates the museum/gallery. The Duomo, Campanile and Bapistry are also spectacular – however their artistry is a constant reminder of how the Church deliberately tried to over-awe the populace and keep them scared and under control.

On Saturday we will avoid the 2 hour queue for Uffizi Gallery (arguably the best Rennaissance Gallery in the world) by paying $50 a head instead of about $15. Oh well, SKIM, SKIM, SKIM.

Travelling with the Gang of Five is fine if you don’t mind going ultra-slowly and not doing much. Yesterday it took us 5 hours to get 24 km. Three hours was arguing over which train to catch. “ Lets catch the fast Milan train in 10 minutes – Florence must go near there” “Don’t be ridiculous, Graeme Florence is hundreds of kilometres away from there !” “ No – it could not be” “ Yes – off COURSE it is !!!!!. So we wait an hour, eventually give up and catch a slow train to Naples, and then a slower train to Rome. And at Rome we catch a slow train to Florence. Oh, and it is the slow train to Milan. (ALL trains to Milan, go though Florence !). So we get into Florence at about 11.00pm – (about 5 hours after Noel and Maureen who were with us but paid an extra 15 Euro to get a fast train) – and we are too scungy to get a taxi – and then we get robbed !

Well at least the day before this we had a good day. Caught the bus through the ultra-windy coastal road from Amalfi to Positano. Then walked uphill a couple of km., around the hills for 10 km and finally down to the next town. The views were stunning. Steep precipitous cliffs and ravines, ancient villages often perched precariously of the cliffs, panoramic vistas of the Meditteranean. Etc. You would have loved it Jenny. Except for the end where we got down just in time to catch the bus. 30 minutes later – no bus. “Does the bus ever come early?” we ask the store keeper next to the bus stop. “NEVER !” he replies. We wait another hour at the stop for the next bus. Finally it arrives and leaves with us on it – 10 minutes BEFORE its due time. We glare at the shop-keeper as we leave. Mussolini obviously never had time to focus on the Amalfi buses.