Wednesday 16 December

We are doing so much each day and crashing at night, so I am falling behind schedule in my diary! 😬 I am sleeping well every second night, but Ross and I are both waking up at 4.30am-5am, and once I am awake, I can’t get back to sleep! Can I really blame jetlag on day 9 of our trip? I thought I would be in sync by now.

We left the wonderful city of Roma this morning for a three and a half hour drive to Florence. According to UNESCO, almost a third of the world’s art treasures reside in Florence. Once there, we met a local guide called Rosa who took us for a walking tour of the city. We saw many famous buildings, cathedrals, and sculptures such as the statue of David. It is quite an academic town as well, with highly sought after courses on offer being in art and art history, architecture and engineering.

  
   
 (Zac loved the gold door!)

We also learnt more about Leonardo da Vinci. Some absolute geniuses came out of Italy! Ross pointed out to us a gold ball and cross on top of the Duomo. Da Vinci’s master created it but had no idea how to get it up on top of the cathedral, so Da Vinci at the age of 17 drew specs and created a crane that could lift it onto the top of the building! Amazing! 

  
Rosa left us in Piazza Di Santa Croce (don’t quote me, I need to check my memory is right!) where there were some Christmas markets. Our travel director took those who were interested to a leather demonstration, while we checked out the markets. I bought my first and favourite souvenir – a wooden jigsaw puzzle of Europe along with flags of each country, and Abi and I bought a scarf each (we both forgot to pack any!).

After a donut at the market, we further explored the streets of Firenze (Florence in Italian) and made our way back to our hotel. Jarrod was interested in buying a leather wallet given we were told this city was best for leather products and gold and silver jewellery, but we talked him out of it once we saw the prices started at 60 euros!

The majority of our tour group headed off to a many course dinner at a restaurant in the Tuscan hills, so we decided to relax in the hotel. A laundromat was a couple of streets away, so Ross took his novel and the two bags of washing to do, while I worked with the kids on catching up on their diaries. 

We intended to eat at the restaurant next door to the hotel for dinner, only to find it was closed for a private function. Ross, Tim and I trekked four blocks to find something for dinner, but to no avail, so we ended up eating at the hotel restaurant, with main course being…pizza! We aim to have the cheap, easy and quick option each day, and while the kids are stoked with the amount and varieties of pizza they are trying (although there is always a Margherita pizza…), Ross and I are looking forward to getting to an apartment where we can cook!