What a sleep!  Our Tuscan villa has the most amazing black out blinds and we slept like babies.  (Except that we didn't wake up every 3 hours to feed.)   During my peaceful slumber I rolled over and inadvertently knocked my pillow into my water glass and it smashed to the floor.  That obviously jarred me awake and after shaking out the shock I couldn't believe how late it was!  Even the kids were still fast asleep, and seeing that we needed to pick up my mom at the airport we needed to get up and organized.  First task of the day - actually figure out where the airport is!  We found an old guidebook here in the main area and it must've been from 1965 because apparently there isn't an airport in Florence.  According to the book all air traffic goes to Pisa and then the passengers connect to Florence via train.  I was pretty sure my mom's flight was arriving in Florence but I'll admit this caused me a moment of doubt.  All this confusion coincided with a wi-fi shutdown so we couldn't use our trusty google!  We waited a bit, finished getting ready, and then repeatedly tried the internet until we connected.  Hooray - success!  Jeff saw the way, I confirmed it on the map, and off we went!

My mom was eagerly greeted by the kids and we promptly hopped in the car and headed into Florence.  Again we really didn't know where we were going but figured if we followed the signs saying 'centro' we would be okay.  The buildings became increasingly older (which we took as a good sign) and suddenly we were in the heart of the old city.  We found a parking garage and hoped that our car (and it's contents) would be there when we returned.  We had to leave the key with the attendant which is always slightly disconcerting… but nothing to worry about as the guy was helpful, friendly, and our car was just as we'd left it.

Florence was busy and hot but not in a bad way.  The Duomo S. Maria del Fiore (a.k.a Il Duomo) is gorgeous!  I know I've seen it before but I really didn't remember it being so breathtaking and impressive.  Unbelievably enough the cathedral construction began in 1296 and finished in 1337.  Seriously!?  We briefly contemplated climbing to the top but when we actually looked up we decided to use our energy for other endeavors.  On our honeymoon Jeff and I visited the Galileo Museum and it left such an impression on us that we wanted to see it again.  My mom is as much of a science nut as we are so she was really interested in it as well.  Fourteen years ago the museum was in an old house and had amazing instruments and globes that were just sitting in the middle of a dusty room.  Since then they've upgraded and moved and most things are now behind glass; this makes me relieved because having such amazing historical artifacts just sitting around caused me stress!  It had many of Galileo's original instruments - these things are over 500 years old!  If you've ever taken a physics class you've seen these drawings and here they are just right in front of you.  Boggling.  It even had a couple of his fingers and a tooth which were kind of gross and I didn't bother pointing it out to the kids because I don't need it to haunt their dreams like it probably will do to mine.  Ick.   The old globes and maps from the 1600's were fascinating - when they didn't know something it was either left blank or filled in with pictures of naked people or ships.  Okay, I can talk about this kind of stuff for hours but I know not everyone is as nerdy as I am so I'll move away from the museum and into the markets.  Leather everywhere!  I was in the market for a new purse (pun intended) but there were so many styles and colors that I became confused and didn't have any idea what I actually wanted.  So, I left purseless.  Sigh.

We didn't want to wait in the long lines for the Uffizi (plus our kids weren't remotely interested in another museum) so instead of looking at the real (original) statue of Michelangelo's David we settled for the 'copy' in the courtyard.  Good enough for me!  There certainly are a lot of statues around and if you ever wondered what a naked man looks like you only need to go to Florence and look an any corner.  Interessante!  * wink*

One last thing we needed to check off our tourist list was the Ponte Vecchio.  It was constructed in 1345 and has many jewelry stores and other shops just like it has had for the last 600+ years.  (Now they have electricity but otherwise it's much the same!)  It also has actual small houses built right onto the sides of the bridge and adds to it's uniqueness.   It's iconic and it definitely is interesting.  The kids were getting tired of walking the streets (even after being fortified with gelato) so we decided to call it a day and head back to the pool.  A nice swim, a little rest, and time for dinner.

We had dinner in a lovely place which, for the first time in a long time, wasn't a pizzeria.  Pizza wasn't even an option and I can't say that I was sad.  I decided to try a Tuscan speciality - a soup called Ribollita which is a vegetable soup thickened with bread.  It was okay but I think it's a winter meal as it's really warm and heavy.  I'm glad to have tried it but I don't think I'll be ordering again.  The local chianti was delicious and the bruschetta was fantastic.  All around a nice experience and it was rounded out (again) by gelato.  I wish we could join some kind of frequent gelato club because this is getting a bit crazy and we still have almost two weeks to go!

Tomorrow is laundry day - bringing carry-on only means that our options are limited and we're starting to get close to desperate.  Usually our rentals have laundry facilities but as this place is out in the middle of nowhere and water is scarce we are taking our clothes into town.  They have a laundry service that is drop off dirty and pick up clean - sounds perfect!  We'll kill the time with eating and shopping, rough I know.

Until tomorrow...