Florence

Well, Rosie & I have just come back from a couple of days in Florence. A surprise trip that ended up not being a surprise because her passport had expired... However, I did manage to keep the purpose for the trip secret : to buy our wedding rings on the Ponte Vecchio.

All was going to plan until we went into the first goldsmiths, and the woman behind the counter extinguished her cigarette (!) and spoke in a broad Brummie* accent! There was just no way I was going to go all the way to Italy only to buy our wedding rings from a bloody brummie. No matter how nice the rings were.

So we went to the next shop, to be greeted by someone who was probably South African or something. But much better looking than the woman in the first shop. And not a Brummie. So that was OK. :-)

On the upside, though, Florence was, as ever, beautiful. Even in the cold. Especially in the cold, actually. You could actually walk around the streets without being forced to get overly friendly and sweaty with throngs of tourists (isn't it odd how no-one seems to categorise themselves as being the same as all the other tourists? Or am I wrong?). I've never been there in the winter before - whenever I've been before it's been just the wrong time to be there.

Pics can be found here

For those of you lucky people who don't know what a Brummie is, it's one who originates from Birmingham, or the West Midlands, and has what has to be the worst accent on earth. Imagine the most whiny voice you can think of. And multiply it by a hangover, and you get the idea.