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After a few busy days with limited internet it's time to check in again. 11th of Sept was the first day of our three consecutive Odyssey of the Seas Mediterranean cruises. We caught the high speed train to Rome Termini. Another top service. Rome to Civitavecchia was at the other end of...

No. I have read that they are going to introduce a tourist visit charge.

Last day in Florence. Early train to Pisa. Another overcrowded train with luggage everywhere. One thing I have noticed on local Italian trains. We have never had our tickets checked on board or at entry and exit stations. Of course we visited to tick the Tower off our bucket list and I had...

Mrs Woodyren retired to the hotel and I continued to explore this wonderful city. First photo tucked in behind the peloton.

Second day in Florence was another 20,000 step walking day. Very crowded and a huge number of tour groups following the flag. I have developed a strategy. Rather than using a map or Google maps I just sit in behind the peloton of a group and get towed around the sites.

First nights walk around Florence. Visited the Central Market area to organise our pre cruise covid test and had dinner in the eateries above the market.

Our Florence hotel 7Florence B&B was directly across the road from Florence station. Hard to find as there was only a very small sign above the entrance. It was situated on the second floor. A little noisy at night but a wonderful location in the Santa Maria Novella district. Inexpensive at...

Moving on from Lake Garda to Florence. Local train to Milan Central hectic and crowded as usual. The big issue with local trains in Italy is lack of luggage space. So many seats taken up with luggage. People have no option so it's not as if they are rude. Then from Milan to Florence our first...

Today we visited Venice. It was never planned as part of the trip but once I realised it was only a few hours away by train and we have unused days on our Eurail pass we decided to visit such a well know icon city. Not saying we didn't enjoy it but in hindsight I would have much rather visited...

On day two we caught the ferry to Sirmione del Garda. Much more up market with some huge private villas at the tip of peninsular. Very vibrant town. We originally thought we would book a day all ferry pass and visit a number of the lake's villages. Luckily we didn't as we spent a full day in...

Really enjoying our few days in the Lake Garda region. First photos from Desenzano del Garda where we are based. Lots of reasonably priced eateries and a good long beachfront dotted with some nice hotels and private villas. Very relaxing. Found this beer in the supermarket. Being the...

Arrived at the Hotel City Desenzano del Garda. Good location. Nice room. Decent breakfast included. Fantastic budget dinner for two with a great view. Pizza and a 650 ml beer from a back street husband and wife place eaten overlooking Lake Garda. €11.00. The thing that makes travel so easy...

Last night in Interlaken. Nice views from the hotel balcony. Next destination was Desenzano del Garda in Italy. Another great Swiss train experience. Once we crossed the border into Italy it was like the switch of efficiency and organisation was flicked off. Train delays, limited customer...

Sirmione. Lake Garda. Italy.

Lastly down the mountain and back to Interlaken via Grindelwald. With Eurail discount the cost of the 4 trains to complete the circuit was 62 CHF. A very enjoyable day. Tomorrow we head to Lake Garda in Italy for three nights.

Next train took us up to the highest point for us today. Klein Scheidegg. There is another train much higher up to Jungfraujoch. We didn't take that option.

Then a different train up to Wengen and it's views over Lauterbrunnen.

Trying to squeeze in as much as possible into our last day in Interlaken. We planned to do the mountain cogwheel trains yesterday but rescheduled due to weather. First stop was Lauterbrunnen. A magical valley with a few high waterfalls and alpine views at the valley end.

Our hotel in Interlaken. Hotel Rossli. Room very basic as was breakfast but the staff, views and atmosphere have lifted it well above expectations. Spent a while last night and again this morning chatting to an Aussie couple from Perth who are on a round the world KF J Saver trip. The guy is...

And just now from the Rossli Interlaken hotel balcony.