Today we continued to explore Florence.
We headed out in the morning to avoid the heat (it’s been really hot and humid 🥵) and the crowds.
We walked across the Ponte Vecchio—lovely without the mass crowds—and up toward the Pitti Palace, purchased our tickets, and went inside to explore the Boboli Gardens.
The gardens were amazing and massive—a beautiful space to walk and wander, which is exactly what we did.
After the gardens, we walked home to cool off and have a light lunch. Our aim was to eat the remaining food (mostly salad) in our fridge, as we move on to Milan tomorrow (yes, we are getting toward the pointy end of this trip).
The cool of the apartment was something we all certainly appreciated. By midday, Florence was very hot and humid.
We chilled out ahead of our Paint-and-Sip session at the Ponte Vecchio later this afternoon. We found it randomly on our wanderings yesterday and thought it would be a great opportunity to just sit and relax while doing some painting and sipping on Italian wines—all while taking in the view of the Ponte Vecchio.
We arrived early at the Paint-and-Sip session, which was a short walk just across the bridge. Good thing we did, as we were first allowed in and were able to be seated at the four-person table right in the window that looked out at the Ponte Vecchio.
Amazing—but warm… wow, it was hot in there.
We painted and sipped on Italian wines (kids on juice) for the next two hours. Even with the windows open, there was only a very occasional slight breeze—which, while amazingly refreshing when it came, was rare, and the room was hot.
But we painted on. We each selected a different picture to paint. At the start of the session, everyone had to vote on which painting the host would paint and help describe the techniques and approach. The group voted and selected the Wine Window—which is what Laura painted.
The kids selected the Cat and the Duomo, which also fortunately had a stencil that they could trace to help get them going.
I painted the Negroni (my favourite cocktail) and had to do it without help or guidance—a bit daunting given the last time I painted was probably 30-odd years ago in a year 7 or 8 art class.
We all worked through our paintings, each approaching them in our own ways and with our own struggles. This is art, I guess.
It was a heap of fun—and we now have a personal souvenir to take home.
After the Paint-and-Sip session, we all needed to cool off, so back to the apartment to chill out for a few hours.
Later in the evening, it was still pretty hot (30°C), but we headed out for an evening walk and to find some pizza to take home and enjoy in the cool air of the apartment.
Tomorrow we move on to Milan—our last stop in Italy before we start to head home (via Singapore). Hard to believe we’re almost at the end.
