More gorgeousness

Sadly left La Spezia- a nice town with a great hotel (My Hotel) about 1km from train.Handy internet cafe and train schedule made last blog shorter than I would have liked.
Managed 4 out of the 5 villages as weather was predicted to be poor so we gave our 2 day ticket with a day still on it to 2 young Australians from Bathurst who were about to set off. The walk was great- excellent 20 degree weather and sunny created a sweat on the more difficult parts - went from south to north not to have sun in our faces-still all those yrs of walking with Deb and Jan stood me in good stead. Dale sometimes forgets his legs are a lot longer than mine- he seemed surprised I could keep up with him!Caught the train back to La Spezia from Varessa after a well deserved beer on the waterfront. All very picturesque and a very happy crowd from everywhere.
French lady (my age) was on the train and was very glamorous in her color cooordinated sportswear, jewellery, scarf etc.Put her lipstick on and was every bit a medel for Vogue on the crowded train while her husband in jeans and teeshirt remained impassive. ( like a lot of men accompanying their partners in Europe)Dale says women are amused by trivialities-easily amused??
Back in La Spezia had another excellent seafood and steak meal at reasonable cost tho I did want to try some Montalcino red wine- similar to Oz style heavy red which was expensive at 20E.
The train to Lucca was fine as usual and we arrived about midday. What a lovely town. From the station we walked about 1.5k to our accommodation we booked on the net. Turned out to be a B and B (San Ferdinandino) with bathroom down the hall,nice people, breakfast on a tray in the room,expresso machine in the hall and very clean but old.
Had a good lunch at Avini which had been suggested -a group was there who were doing economics and language courses in Lucca-Brazilian and Americans nice people.
Explored the town-cathedrals,shops etc very lovely.Saw toyshop with wonderful automaton type toys, skaters,merry go rounds and ballonists No time to find it again!
Walked along the wall at dusk and went to a reccommended restaurant ( Gigi) and had a great meal starting with a tasty mushroom and zuccini pudding ( mousse like) with a creamy sauce. Then Dale had steak and I had veal with tomato and caper sauce-another terrific meal-
67E was a good price for accommodation so we ignored the prepacked croissant and had breakfast at a local pasticceria we had already spotted.4E for 2 coffees and cakes!Off to Florence on the train 2 hr gap between trains so hurried to station-learnt to use automatic ticket machine as there was a long queue. Rang Valdo from the train as he has always told us how great Lucca is and we agree entirely.
Florence station -decided to wing accommodation- internet prices better than phoning up e.g. 95 E compared to 120 quoted on phone.About to find an internet point when a sweet old man with a namecard and details of his B and B said he had a room available. He grabbed my case and off we went thru the crowded station and past St Maria Novella toward the river- ended up on the 2nd floor of and old palazzo and into a room with a bathroom for us across the corridor.Clean and 75E per night in the thick of things cant be bad. Bed good and room spacious with a view of the river.
Walked our feet off this afternoon after a chicken and vege lunch. Locals had it and we asked for the same- got the last serves of it- very delicious with fresh sprigs of oregano on top.Revisited the Duomo , San Lorenzo and the Ponte Vecchio with all the jewellery shops- pales after seeing Dubai gold souk!Crowded and noisy after our last few days in Italy- spoilt I guess.Leather here in vast quantities will be hard to resist.
Off to dinner now I know not where-we seem to have the gods smiling on us today.
My cough is getting better-hope Dale does not succumb!