7 Quick Takes in Florence

You may have read last week’s post about our time in Assisi.  If not, you might want to begin here.  For the second leg of our family pilgrimage in Italy, we chose Florence.  Perhaps it’s not the first place you would think of for a family pilgrimage — but believe me, there were many unexpected blessings to be found in this city.

Please come back next week for more about our adventures in Florence, but for now I am linking up with Kelly for my 7 Quick Takes of Florence.  Enjoy!

1. The winding streets of Florence all seemed to lead to the Duomo – I couldn’t get enough of them!  One of the things that I loved about Florence, was that the entire city seemed to be built around the Duomo.  Every little winding street was full of lovely shops, delicious gelato, and really great shopping –and then you’d be back at the Duomo.  I wish our cities were built around its churches!

2.  Thank goodness for baby carriers!  I could enjoy walking the lovely Ponte Vecchio with my my baby and my four year old at the same time!

3.  We aren’t the type of family to book tours and excursions when on vacation, but our decision to book a private guide in Florence really brought the city to life.  Perhaps even more wonderful was that we were able to go at our own pace and my sister in law and her family joined in at the last minute – no problem.  When traveling with kids, this is the kind of flexibility that you need, and when traveling to such a historic city, the investment in the tour guide was money well spent!  Our tour guide was amazing and she led us through the city in a way that we never would have been able to do on our own.

4.  Okay, I can’t do 7 Quick Takes without sharing my husband’s obsession with trying to make our baby appear to be part of the great works of art around the city.

Exhibit A: David and Cherub

Exhibit B:  In my opinion this little cherub was too happy for this scene…it’s a fail 🙁

5.  Florence was hot- really hot – and I was sweating from morning till night there. It didn’t help that I had my 11 month old attached to me for most of the day.  For some reason, we never thought to let my husband take a turn carrying him. 🙁 So this view was a big part of my time in Florence.  Good thing he’s so cute because I was sweating like an Englishman in Singapore for most of my time there.

6. One of our favorite memories was waking all 6 kids before sunrise and hiking up to the Piazza Michelangelo and then heading to morning mass at the Duomo.  This piazza has the most amazing views of the city, and it was a wonderful way to start our last morning in Florence.

7.  Hands down, our favorite area of the city was Piazza Signoria.  During the day, it was full of bustling tourists, but by night the musicians and local Florencians made lovely company for our evening gelato.

Well, I hope you come back next week when I’ll be posting more about our adventures in Florence.

Have a blessed weekend!

~Moira~