Last Day In Florence

After Vin smuggled ice cubes from the villa to make his own iced coffee in the trunk of our car (I think he has been scarred by the offended reaction Italians have to his request for ice coffee thus far, so he has taken it upon himself to just make his own)...We decided to spend one more day catching all of the things we still had on our list in Florence. For Vince, it was climbing to the very top of Brunaleschi's duomo, and for me, it was shopping...so we did both! 

We started at the little Japanese water color studio near Boboli Gardens where I found my favorite local painter. Junto Mukai is from Tokyo but has been living in Florence for 18 years, painting out of a tiny shop at the end of a pretty street below Piazzale Michelangelo. She is so sweet and we loved all of her work. We picked up a few things that we had to have to bring home! 

After taking some pics in Piazza Della Signoria we decided to climb to the top of the Florence Cathedral (about 450 stairs). From the top we could see the entire city and for miles beyond. The duomo is truly magnificent, an architectural and engineering spectacle!

We wandered through as many of the other charming shops that we could find. Florence has endless charm and each store front offers something new and unique. We found a wood carver's toy shop that looked like it could have been owned by Gepetto himself (the Adventures of Pinocchio were originally written by Italian author Carlo Collodi, here in Florence)

The store fronts are covered in christmas garlands and twinkling lights. The rainy afternoon felt very festive and filled with holiday spirit! 

After dinner--which consisted of Pollo Balsalmico and grilled veggies and lots of fresh Parmesano Reggiano--we stopped for our last Florentine gelato at Gelato Dei  Neri, before heading home. At home now in our warm and PERFECT villa at San Filippo. Vin has the Christmas music playing and we opened the Brunello from Castello del Nero that the hotel have to us as a gift! A great day, we will be so sad to say goodbye tomorrow as we head to Rome in the morning for more adventures! We will miss Tuscany so much, it is a very special place! Love and miss you! Xo, L & V