Firenze

Made the decision last night to head to Florence for the day.

Up and on the road by 8.30am. Took 2 cars as Ro, Ben, Nicolette, Stu, Meaghan, Lubby and myself set off on the road to Firenze.

The Italian countryside is absolutely gorgeous and so green with rolling hills and (I think) pencil pines along the top of the hills leading up to another villa overlooking the countryside.

Arrived in Florence and parked the car and came out of the car park right in the middle of the market and found a bar for our morning coffees and waited for the girls to arrive in the other car.

What a beautiful town.

The churches and statues and intricate decorations and carvings were amazing.

The Duomo was spectacular.

Took a photo of David and Perseus with the head of Medusa. There was Neptune as well.

Of course there was so much shopping and the smell of leather was incredible.

Was so tempted to buy a leather jacket and tried on a few but just couldn’t do it. I was not that taken with the shoes either as they were all dead flat with no support in them. However the handbags. Now there was another story.

We got to the Ponti Vecchio and what a wonderful sight.

I think we timed it quite well as even though there were a few tourists it wasn’t too bad.

We walked over the bridge and could not get over the amount of gold and jewellery shops that lined each side of the bridge. In fact every shop on the bridge, both sides were gold and jewellery shops. It was amazing. We got to the other side and made the decision it was time for lunch.

It was extremely hot so found an air conditioned restaurant to eat in

Margarita pizza, the most delicious ever! Beats Franks and of course the obligatory Aperol.

Our waitress was absolutely gorgeous and cheeky and then found out it was Ro’s birthday and then we told her that Ro was marrying Stu so you can imagine the hilarity of the conversation.

Left the restaurant and started to head back the way we had come and when we got to the bridge they had closed the middle of the road off and lined the cobblestones with gold sheets.

It was to be a fashion show apparently and the models would be walking on the gold runway.

We squeezed down the side and came back through town.

Ro was on a shopping spree so we decided to split up and half of us went back to the car and came home while the others stayed for some serious shopping.

It was a fun day and so glad I went and saw Florence.

On the way out of town we walked past a Bar and here was a couple sitting having a glass of wine with their dog enjoying the evening with its own drink

Arrived back at the villa with a car full of shopping and Max and Alba had dinner ready and again we sat around the fabulous dinner table outside and had a very funny night.

It is now bedtime and looking forward to another day in heaven tomorrow

Caio