Fantastic Florence

So we’re not actually in Florence anymore (we are on the train to Venice) but I didn’t actually write anything in Florence, sorry! Sure I put my past blog entries up and some photos but I didn’t actually say anything that we did in the amazing city that is Firenze! So here it is:

When we got into Florence, the apartment we were staying in was a 100 meter walk from the station. The owner of the apartment, Ana, was there to meet us. She was really nice and dad had a good time talking to her (but switching between English and Italian the whole time). We went down to the little market that was set up in the piazza below for lunch and tried arancini balls. So Yum! We then went for a walk around the city and went over the Ponte Vecchio and found this gorgeous little mask shop. Then we wandered around for half an hour trying to find the supermarket before dad saw someone with a bag from there and asked them. Turns out we had walked past there several times but just hadn’t noticed because it said supermarcarto really small!

In the morning of the next day, we went and climbed the dome of the Duomo. We saw the paintings on the ceiling of the dome up close which were really quite spectacular. Then we went up the top outside and saw the view over Florence. Really spectacular! We went back to the apartment for lunch (another arancini ball) before going to the Palazzo Vecchio were we had a guided tour (in English & designed for kids) and went back to the 1500s to meet the Duchess of the castle.

Yesterday morning we walked across the river and up to Piazzale Michelangelo to look at the view over Florence. Florence really is a beautiful city! Then in the afternoon we walked across the river to the most amazing gelati shop ever! Very yummy J. Then we walked around a bit and found the gardens of Palazzo Pitti. The gardens were really pretty and Ben had a great time walking around the “Beautiful Paths” as he called them. Then we walked back to the apartment for dinner before going out for ice-cream and a quick walk around the city to see the Duomo at night.

This morning we packed up the apartment and then visited the Santa Maria Novella which was right outside our apartment. Not long after we got back, Ana arrived to clean the apartment but she let us leave our bags while we went out for an arancini ball lunch. Then we collected our bags and headed to the station. Now we are on the train headed to Venice. Mum says we are staying in a palace in Venice! An apartment that is in some old palace or something, I’m not completely sure. We will be there soon J

I’ll right more as soon as I can,

Emma xxxxxx J

(I wrote this earlier today)