Watching the swimmers and making sure none of them come to any mishap. That's a job the Blog would like.

But not just yet. There is stuff to be done at Enable and the Blog can't wait to be back.

Thanks to those that followed the tour. Those that didn't, didn't miss much in the end.

After resisting for nearly 3 weeks the Blog finally gives in and orders a Margherita.

But they bring a strawberry one!

The Blog just wanted the usual, not strawberry!

All the good shops are most busy at night. This one, opposite the tour hotel, is full of the latest gear and high quality as well. Sadly the Blog has been told to forget this shop as it has nothing suitable for him.

With only a couple of days of the tour to go the focus switched to the posh shops along the front and also the beach.

Keen Blogger Paul wanted a picture of a vintage Vesper. This was spotted in one of the fashion shop windows. Whether it is vintage enough for Paul remains to be seen.

And despite everything this guy is still relatively popular!

And afterwards, in the woods, you can reflect on the game over a glass of Peroni.

In the woods you can, like the Blog, hang with the guys watching the game which looks like bowls but then again doesn't.

With the Blog fit again the tour chilled in the woods. Ah yes the woods.

The tour loves the woods and the woods have no reason not to love the tour.

There is always lots of activities to join in with or you can just chill like the tour and this guy, who is not part of the tour it must be pointed out.

Unfortunately the Blog got a bug or virus or something and for 3 days only moved between the hotel room and the beach deckchair. Which isn't far as this picture from the hotel room shows. However the tour carried on in the meantime, much like Enable.

Sitting in the deckchair, not able to do much else, the Blog noticed the inexplicable increase in tatoos there has been since the last tour. People who look sort of OK suddenly transform into human graffiti walls when they take their clothes off. And it is impossible to understand what these squiggles represent. And if people love tatoos so much why do some people only have one on their shoulder or at the bottom of their back where they can't even see it?

In Pietrasanta the Blog spotted a dancing Surfi, a three dimensional representation of poetry. Also known as Dervishes, this particular Surfi has a large moustache like a Cossack but facial features or geographical origins have little little bearing on the dancers' search for truth. Each Surfi represents a mix of origins to represent a mystical magic dance for all humanity. Apparently.

On the way back from Sarzana the tour stopped off at Pietrasanta, a particular favourite. It had had just stopped pouring with rain but when you looked at the square you would never have guessed it.

The tour visits the attractive, quite large but very quiet town of Sarzana and discovers another imitation of David that gloriously fails.
All these efforts are encouraged by the fact that the best marble is mined in this area and Michelangelo would often stay locally to pick out the best chunks to work with.

As Bloggers would expect, the streets are narrow and shady with something to view at the end of each one. Here San Michele in Foro is presented.

This was just parked in a square. No parking permit, no disability sticker, nothing.
It just shows you can get away with anything if you have style.

It may be a bit disappointing that the round square has now become slightly commercialised with a couple of cafes and gift shop. But it is always very very hot in the square and you do need a relaxing Peroni whilst you enjoy the view.

You can't tell from this or any other picture but this square is round and is one of the best squares ever built.
Washing and Italian flags hang from windows and it is all like stepping back to another age.

The main street is full of interesting shops of course.

There is always diverse range of free live music to be seen and heard on the streets of Lucca.
This duo were this year's headliners playing an assorted medley of unknown hits.

The tour's long anticipated trip to Lucca finally happens. This is where the Blog would live and may do one day.
After the walk from the station and along the city walls the first thing of note you find is another statue of Puccini.
He may, or in fact did, live in Torre del Lago but was born here.
The Blog thinks he looks very different in this reproduction of his appearance. Like a different person in fact. This statue looks more like Neville Chamberlain. Did he stop off at Lucca for a spot of sight seeing on his way back from his meeting with Hitler?

And fittingly, and unlike Modena, there is a statue to the local hero and here it is.

Keeping the Pavarotti theme going, in the afternoon it was bike and bus to Torre del Lago Puccini i.e. a lake named after local boy Giacomo Puccini the composer of many an opera including the one that featured Nessun Dorma.

There a number of these things on the streets. This seems to be half girl, half horse and half micky mouse. Three halves and very strange.

There are very attractive colour co-ordinated shops to browse but you need a fat wallet to do any purchasing.

By bike and by bus we arrive at Forte dei Marmi an upmarket place a few miles up the coast. There is always a new surprise or two here. This is their version of David.

As custom dictates, Mrs Hayes hires a bike for the week leaving the Blog to follow on foot or bus or not at all.

And so another trip to Florence comes to an end with a spectacular view of the Duomo, the Palazzo Vecchio et al. The Blog has lost count of the number of visits made here but can't wait to return again.

Much like Blog rushes into the Louvre, sees the Venus de Milo and then rushes out again, so the Blog rushes into the Uffizi, sees the Botticelli's and rushes out again.

Actually this is not entirely true as you can't just rush into the Uffizi. You either stand in a queue for hours or, like the Blog, book in advance for the exact day and time you wish to rush in and see the Botticelli's and rush out again.

The picture here of one of the said Botticelli's was not taken by the Blog,or any of the tour party, as like in most Italian art museums, photographs are not allowed.

Many Bloggers will know this anyway but this is the Ponte Vecchio. The bridge that is full of little jewellery shops.

The Blog oftens thinks it will one day collapse from the weight of all the people who are on it all day every day.

Again with apologies to follows of previous tours, here is a picture of one of the several statues of David that can be found around the city. They mostly all always have a pigeon on top.

This one stands in the Piazza della Signoria, the Blog's favourite square. Like most of the main squares in Italy at the moment, it seems, it is covered in temporary seating for some festival events so unfortunately the Blog can't show any pictures of what this great square usually looks like. Sorry.

Every day crowds of people stand and stare at the incredible Baptistry doors. Elbows are needed if you want to get a close look or take a picture of one or more of the very detailed panels.

Florence is now the most crowded city the Blog has ever been to after Venice.

Here are the fabulous trio. The Duomo, the Baptisty and the Campanile. You have to walk a very long way back, stand in the middle of a road and get in front of all the others doing the same thing to be able to get this picture. The Blog always goes the extra mile for his readers.

After Pisa the tour moved on to Florence, one of the greatest cities in the world and certainly one of the Blog's top choices.

On the way to the main sites you always pass through a market, unless you have gone the wrong way. If you need a belt to hold your trousers up or look trendy then there are more belts to be seen at this market than any self respecting Blogger would ever wish to see.

Actually there is more to Pisa than just the Campo dei Miracoli and the famous tower. There are interesting shops, the river Arno and impressive squares such as the Piazza dei Cavalieri.

Most tourists never see these things as they arrive on their coaches, take the boring old picture where they try and give the illusion that they are holding the tower up and then get back on their coach.

But we are not tourists we are 'the tour' and we know all about the other bits of Pisa that make it a fascinating place to go.

With apologies to Bloggers who followed the 08 and 09 tours, here it is again. This time behind the magnificent Duomo.

The Blog doesn't look particularly happy even though the tour is off by bus to Pisa for another visit to the see the amazing jaunty tower.

Here is the alternative pier which the Blog has never found a way of getting to. It looks a mess but at the same time interesting, a bit like lots of things really.

So once again the first job here is to check out the posh shops along the front and have a stroll down the pier. Every resort should have a pier and we have two here. The regular pier, as shown, and an alternative pier.

By the way, the people in the picture are not part of the tour.

And so after a very agreeable 2 hour journey on the very comfortable and efficient Trenitalia train from Bologna, the tour was back in Viareggio.
This is where the tour would be based for the next two eagerly anticipated weeks.
There was so much to see that had been seen so many times before and so much to do that had been done already.
You never get bored with the great things in life.
If something feels good keep doing it.
If the Blog needed excitement he would have stayed at work and not bothered to tour.

In a few hours time all the seats in the square will be taken as the Bolognese flock to see another big film at this temporary outdoor cinema.

The tour is preparing to leave this fabulous city in the morning and head for the Tuscan coast.

Bologna has surprised and delighted and the Blog hopes to be back soon, so probably will be.

Although it has been a very enjoyable week the Blog is aware of all the action taking place back at Enable and knows it has been the most inconvenient time to be away from base. However the Blog also knows about all the work being done and that everything is in the best possible hands.

As Bologna is considered to be the capital of Italy with regard to culinary matters, there are naturally many places where you can eat great food and drink fine wine in atmospheric surroundings. And so the tour has sampled as much of all this as possible.

It was all very relaxing except for Thursday when a guy sat at the next table to the tour and immediately we were surrounded by photographers and assorted hangers on. The Blog has no idea why.

The Blog is very pleased to see the appreciative comments left on the tour blog by ardent Bloggers but is for some reason having difficulties in responding. Hopefully this technical problem will be solved soon in the meantime keep the comments coming.

Bologna has the oldest and most respected university in Italy. There are some great buildings with some great frescoes on the campus. Sadly the area is also covered in graffiti.

According to what the Blog was reading at breakfast, the area is characterised by punks with dogs on strings who later graduate to work in the city's banks. OK not all the young people in the picture look like punks but they do have dogs.

By the way, the Blog has nothing against punks and liked the Sex Pistols and The Clash, just in case Bloggers thought the Blog was being unfair to punks.

Cristina Dona was playing on the campus in the evening but the Blog couldn't work out how to get tickets. If any Bloggers are unfamiliar with Christina Dona check her out on itunes. Anyway, why wasn't the whole tour given free passes?

Bologna has its own twin towers and here they are.

Years ago every family of standing built their own tower and so there were hundreds in the city, well lots anyway. All the towers were pulled down in the 19th century as part of some misguided re-development plan, sounds familiar . Now there are only these two left and a couple of others. Mrs Hayes climbed the 500 steps of the one on the right but the Blog was busy elsewhere.

The back alleys are also the place to go for all the interesting shops selling fine wines, cheeses and all sorts of food. Tamburini is the most famous of these and so the Blog spent a little while window gazing and wondering what some of the items actually were.

Back in Bologna, the back alleys are busy places with lots of local produce on sale and lively debate.

The tour moved on to Parma in search of the two products this place is famous for parma ham and parmasan cheese, neither of which the Blog is particularly fond of.

Having expected to see great balls of parmasan cheese being sold on street corners and massive hams hanging up in every other shop, the Blog was both relieved and disappointed at the same time.

But Parma is a smart city full of smart shops and a very striking cathedral and an even more striking Baptistry, seen here, which leans and has a very well decorated ceiling, not shown here.

On Wednesday the tour visited Modena and Parma.Modena is the home of Ferrari, the best vinegar and of course Luciano Pavarotti.
The Blog had expected to see shops selling Pavarotti memorabilia or a statue of the great man or a plaque to show where he lived or a road named after him. Something for goodness sake. But there was no evidence at all of the big guy's former presence. So the Blog has posted a little reminder in the toolbar. Watch and listen in the office because the Blog is away.

Bologna is called the capital of Italy for allthings food and the Blog understands why.
Everywhere there are shops selling produce the Blog can't even name, cakes and pastry emporiums galore and eating establishments to suit every taste, if not pocket.

The tour is not always well researched and to include Bologna was a last minute impulsive choice, not typical of the Blog. But after a whole full day in this city the Blog can report that Bologna is a surprising delight.

Everyone here welcomes the tour and are very friendly except the person shown here. Perhaps this guy has heard that the tour will be followed by a visit from Nick peddling his Apprenticeships as usual and hence his rude gesture.

Portico di San Luca is the super portico. It goes on and on for 2 and a half miles up a very steep hill, reminding the Blog just how out of condition he has become in recent times.

The Blog often lagged a long way behind Mrs Hayes, whose idea this whole thing was, but eventually made it to the top and was rewarded with a pleasing view of the city. The tour's guide book says Portico di San Luca is the longest arcade in the world and the Blog believes that this is true.

You can walk all around Bologna, as the Blog now knows, and always stay in the shade. The whole city is efficiently served by arches.

Porticoe's they are called and underneath them there are posh shops and welcoming bars. All in all porticoes seem to be a very helpful idea.

A closer look at the fabulous fountain reveals four water sprouting nymphs. Apparently years ago this display so upset the papacy they wanted Neptune destroyed. The Blog is sure everyone is pleased Neptune and his nymphs live on to delight all those that see them.