The truck is stuck! The front of it is too low to the ground to get over the join where the opening of the ferry meets the wharf. There are six men standing around perplexed. One pulls his phone from his pocket and makes a call!! Almost immediately, another man appears with large wads of thick hessian. The truck reverses a little and the man places the hessian just in front of the truck's front wheels. It inches forward ever so slowly. A bit more hessian and it makes it over. Cars and motor bikes have been pouring out of the ferry for half an hour. How many more are left?? The big truck trundles off the ferry and more cars drive off. Then more motor bikes drive out en masse probably close to a hundred. Even a family with dad on his pushbike with child and trailer, followed by mum and another child riding pillion! Finally the ferry is empty and now it is our turn to walk on board followed by the cars, bikes and trucks also bound for Italy. Many of the cyclists and bikies are older, over fifty at least and a large group have shirts and shorts with 'Corsica Challenge' on. It is some sort of endurance course on Corsica for cyclists. Once on board, many of the cyclists find a spot on the floor, deck chair, lounge , anywhere for a sleep! Four hours later we are in Livorno, Italy. The crossing is very smooth and only occasionally could we feel the movement of the ferry. We walk for 20 minutes to have place at the same restaurant as last Saturday. 'La Bottega di una Volta'. Well worth the walk. The food is delicious and the gelato amazing. Mandarin and dark chocolate today. A taxi takes us to the station where we buy our ticket to Florence, a regional all stations train which takes almost two hours. We are almost in Florence when the ticket inspector comes through. "You have not validated your ticket," he says to us. "Did we have to?" asks Colin. "Yes", he replies, "i am going to fine you. I can fine you up to €40 each but I will use my discretion and only fine you €5 each." We plead with him that we weren't told to validate the tickets but to no avail. Colin hands over €10 and the ticket inspector disappears. Welcome to Italy!! I try plea bargaining at Florence station but there is no point. This is the rule. So we head for our hotel. Hotel Casci is a little two star family run hotel an 800 metre walk from the station with a five star welcome! Our bags were carried in for us and taken up to our room and we walked up the stairs instead of taking the lift to be greeted by the matriarch of the family most warmly. What a delightful lady. Armed with maps and information, we head off to unpack in the largest room of our trip, beautifully decorated in red, green and gold. We don't need to go to the Uffizi Gallery. We have Botticelli's famous 'The Birth of Venus" directly above our bed! We stayed at Hotel Casci Room 4 Fabulous. The air conditioner works brilliantly, the shower is good, the bed is comfy, loads of space, right in the centre of Florence, absolutely fabulous! Ten per cent discount if the bill is settled with cash.