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.
We wandered around and went to a few places we’d read about, including Farmacia Santa Maria Novella - the oldest pharmacy in Europe.
And of course, the leather market.
When we were all thoroughly shopped out, we grabbed some handmade pasta at the Mercato di San Lorenzo.
Then we needed a walk and a playground visit to digest.
I had managed to make an appointment at a hipster barber in the middle of town, which was great.
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).
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.
We headed to our favourite only rooftop bar for a drink.
And to watch the sunset.
Then we had a great dinner and walked back to the hotel, while most locals were just heading out.
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.
Everyone was happy hanging out in the hotel room so I decided to go for a run in the Parco delle Cascine.
And back past the river.
And back through the (deserted) city.
We all decided to head back to the park, where we found a playground with a great flying fox.
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.
Within fifteen minutes she was flying.
Then it was lunch and walk up to Piazzale Michelangelo.
We took a couple of ten (ish) year challenge photos (we’ve changed a lot since 2007).
Then it was back home to get ready to go to Rome the next day to pick up our new car.