Before I will decribe our stay in Florence, there is the need to write about another unpleasent experience with train companies.THE TRAIN STORY - THE ITALIAN PART:
When we wanted to reserve a train from Milan to Florence, I asked the man at the counter whether we can take the train at 10:50 with our interrail ticket. And he said - in bad English - "yes yes, going to Napoli, no reservation". Then he sold Mandy a ticket for 19€ only and everybody was happy - for the time being. Before getting onto the train I wondered why this one was not going to Napoli, but did not worry about it. BIG MISTAKE
When the conductor came to check our tickets he said, that we had to reserve this train as this was a special high speed train. We protested that we asked beforehand and got wrong information, but he did not care about that and insisted on payment. 15€ for the reservation + fucking 8€ for doing it on the train and not before. DAMN 23€ penalty for trusting somebody at the station!!! An Italian woman on the seat next to us advised us never to truat a single person in Italy. Ask at least 3 or 4 people and get it in writing. Lesson learned! What proably happened was, that the man at the counter spoke too bad English to know the difference between 10:50 and 10:55 as there was a regional train at that time (to Napoli).
Well, mood ruined so far. In Florence we were a bit lucky then as we met a guy from the campsite at the station who could offer us discount at the campsite so that the night did cost us only 10,50€. But the campsite was again not very nice. First of all again rock solid ground with stones, pretty uneven. And second, there was no free space for our rather long tent. As the first attempt to put it up failed. Tim went hunting for another spot and found one in between the caravans where already other people with big tents had moved to. That was at least even ground.
Well, mood ruined so far. In Florence we were a bit lucky then as we met a guy from the campsite at the station who could offer us discount at the campsite so that the night did cost us only 10,50€. But the campsite was again not very nice. First of all again rock solid ground with stones, pretty uneven. And second, there was no free space for our rather long tent. As the first attempt to put it up failed. Tim went hunting for another spot and found one in between the caravans where already other people with big tents had moved to. That was at least even ground.
Afterwards we went into town where we bought our first Italian ice cream.......Awesome, fantastic, incredible, amazing,.....just the best I ever tasted, although expensive. We visited a big square with a lot of dramatic and naked statues, walked to the big cathedral - the Duomo of Firenze and saw that Florence is really famous for leather products. We crossed a market which was full of belts, handbags, wallets and jackets - all made from fantastic leather in every colour. So I made a memo to myself "Come back to Florence when you are rich and go shopping". But now, that was not part of the budget. Instead I bought a new cheap camping cooker for 14€.
While looking for the famous old pharmacy Matthias (the Swiss snowsports instructor) told us about, we passed by a nice and small pub where we took a break to have some pints of Heineken and Murphy's. There Tim tried out new hairstyles. Then there were some guys with a guitar at the table next to us. Tim asked for the guitar and played a little bit. They were so amazed by this that they took pictures and videos of him. As we had not eaten for a while we were all pretty tipsy after two pints. Then we went to the supermarket to buy ingredients for our dinner - and a bottle of Sambuca!
Getting pretty drunk while waiting for the bus and continuing in the bus, we decided NOT to go to Pisa the next day and rather get really pissed and sleep long the next day. During the surprisingly long bus ride that we spent drinking, Mandy and I heard nature calling and so we had to get off the bus one stop ealier to find a bush. Was fun anyway =)At the campsite I prepared pasta with peas and tomate sauce - We had lost the glass with peppers in the bus. Probably when Tim dropped it and everything including the bottles rolled through the bus. Even before finishing dinner Tim was so tired he just fell asleep. But the drunken Hippie and me were in a party mood. So we took a drink and followed the sound of music coming from close the campsite. This led us to the bar "Fló" where they denied entry to a guy with a metal shirt while Mandy with no shirt at all (yeah, well with Bikini) was welcome. So, I don't think I have to describe this place in more detail. Our mission was to get free drinks from stupid guys. However, Italians are VERY direct and expect to get you into their beds even without buying you a drink. While Mandy got her beer from a poor alleged South African guy I was offered a Fendi wallet, if I would offer a place in my tent in return.....NO THANKS I love my 8€ wallet too much.
The next morning we spend some hours recovering from the alcohol and washed our clothes for 3.50€. Later we went back to town 
where we ended up in an Internet cafe and in the pub again. Mandy calculated her finances and decided to come to Rome with us. Later we also found the old pharmacy which was really cool. We walked on to the castle where a festival took place that evening. But as we were 3 hours too early for the rock concert we returned to the campsite to cook. Afterwards I was too tired to go to town again and went to sleep. Tim and Mandy spent some more time doing her first two dreads.
where we ended up in an Internet cafe and in the pub again. Mandy calculated her finances and decided to come to Rome with us. Later we also found the old pharmacy which was really cool. We walked on to the castle where a festival took place that evening. But as we were 3 hours too early for the rock concert we returned to the campsite to cook. Afterwards I was too tired to go to town again and went to sleep. Tim and Mandy spent some more time doing her first two dreads.
Next morning: Off to Rome!!Franzi
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