Day 10- Tuscany and Florence

Today we drive north through the beautiful countryside of Tuscany to Florence. One quick  stop along the way at a highway services  and we arrive around late morning. We drive through the hills and the wind our way up to the lookout which has lovely views over the city. It is a quick stop at  the lookout for a  group photo then into town. We get caught in our first and only rain (actually it HAILED) for a few minutes whilst we were waiting in the town square for our guide to round up the lost lady from our bus. We went as a group   for  a fascinating leather embossing  demonstration. The boys got to be right up front with the artisan and it was great to see the way they make the beautiful gold inlay and embossed patterns on the leather. We chose to go on all but one of the “optional extra” tours during this vacation. The one we opted out of was in Florence- the visit to see the Statue of David and instead we chose to have  free time this afternoon. Maddie and I headed out in search of shoes whilst Mark and the boys have lunch at a lovely little pasta restaurant  then shop. Mark buys a leather jacket, me shoes, Maddie a lovely book with Da Vinci sketches on cover.   Whilst wandering the streets Maddie and I stop for her to have some gelato and I buy a lovely dish of fresh summer fruits- raspberries, blackberries, kiwi fruit etc- so incredibly YUMMM. On our wanderings we ran into the "adventurous boys" in another gelato shop getting their treats as well. Te he he - the family that "gelatos together....." LOL

Some gold Florentine  paper  for souvenirs then back to the bus and drive to Montecatini for a little late afternoon wandering  then a hotel dinner.

Florence is one of my favourite cities- so easy to get around, the cobblestone streets, the horses and carriages , amazing statues everywhere, great food and wonderful shopping …..truly what is there not to like?

I am so pleased with our decision to have some free time here and after hearing from the other tour members of their experience on the David tour I am completely reassured we made the correct choice.

We did see the “replica” David in the town square so the kids hopefully won’t suffer  the loss of the opportunity J to see the real deal.