Balloons, barbers and bicycles

We had a free weekend so we decided to book a cheap hotel room for a night and head to Florence. The kids are getting good at defrosting the car.

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We wandered around and went to a few places we’d read about, including Farmacia Santa Maria Novella - the oldest pharmacy in Europe.

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And of course, the leather market.

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When we were all thoroughly shopped out, we grabbed some handmade pasta at the Mercato di San Lorenzo.

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Then we needed a walk and a playground visit to digest.

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I had managed to make an appointment at a hipster barber in the middle of town, which was great.

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Then we decided we need a gelato break at a super-cute little gelateria just across the river (although letting Hayley order coffee gelato at 4pm may not have been the best parenting decision).

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On the way back into town we passed a salon with a particularly novel way of holding up their clients’ hair during a colour treatment.

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We headed to our favourite only rooftop bar for a drink.

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And to watch the sunset.

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Then we had a great dinner and walked back to the hotel, while most locals were just heading out.

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The next morning we woke up early and I managed to convince Hayley and Audrey to come with me for a pastry at the 24-hour(!) cafe around the corner. The spectacular sunrise was a nice surprise.

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Everyone was happy hanging out in the hotel room so I decided to go for a run in the Parco delle Cascine.

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And back past the river.

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And back through the (deserted) city.

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We all decided to head back to the park, where we found a playground with a great flying fox.

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Next to the playground was a rollerblade and bike rental shop so we thought we’d see if we could teach Audrey to ride a bike well enough for us to ride around the park. The owner of the rental shop took it upon himself to show her what to do.

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Within fifteen minutes she was flying.

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Then it was lunch and walk up to Piazzale Michelangelo.

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We took a couple of ten (ish) year challenge photos (we’ve changed a lot since 2007).

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Then it was back home to get ready to go to Rome the next day to pick up our new car.