Florence

Hi kiddos! We tried to call home, but I think you may not be catching us on skype, and JP is out of commission with those wisdom teeth being pulled,  so we may have to wait a day to catch up. We did talk to Matty and are so happy he loves his cool new job!

Today, we woke up late and split up so we could spend time exploring different parts of Florence. It's been really easy to travel with Abbie and Peter as we are all giving each other space to just do what we like and then meeting up together to eat or sightsee.

Dad and I went walking towards the duomo and I soon realized I left home without my phone. I've only been using it to take pics and blog when we get home as I have no internet access on the streets. It's so freeing. In any case, the pictures from today are from Dads perspective as I didn't have a camera.

We visited the duomo (St Marys basilica of Florence). It us easily the most beautiful church exterior I have ever seen. It's an architectural masterpiece. Because the exterior is so beautiful, we decided to have lunch at a cafe outside it, looking up at it (and I ordered the tuscany bean soup-it didn't let me down). While we ate lunch this woman in a beautiful gown sat and played the Ave Maria and various other beautiful songs on her violin for street money. It was like something out of a dream.

Afterwards, we decided against the 'tour' of the church (which cost money)and instead went inside (the Catholic entrance) and sat and prayed for a while and lit candles for JP and a few other special intentions.

Peter and Abbie headed to San Maria Novella where the relics of the crown of thorns and the cloak put on Christ while he was being mocked was kept. They said it was beautiful. It also had a special altar for St Thomas Aquinas and they lit candles for Tommy today. Then we met up and walked the streets which is just great fun. We also saw a mime on the streets that made us stop and laugh for 20 minutes. We could barely walk away he was so immensely talented.

Dad had gotten it into his head that he wanted to ride bikes around Florence today. Sure enough, he found an incredible app for the phone and so late this afternoon Dad and I took 2 bicycles all thru Florence. I haven't ridden a bike in years, but it turns out to be true that riding a bike, is like riding a bike, and is not a skill easily lost.
Since Florence is small but rich with history and art, you can get all over the city pretty easily. Seeing it by bike was a great experience.

Tonight, we had another great dinner on a restaurant street. The weather has been truly perfect. At dinner, Pete decided he wanted to try a "lost space" adventure. This is the equivalent of our escape the room. We all said yes. Of course as we got closer I had a few misgiving-see my kids and family know I suffer from anxiety, but maybe not all my readers do because I manage it really well. I began to question the prudence of  allowing myself to be locked inside a prison cell, in a foreign country, with a language barrier to boot. But in for a penny, in for a pound. We were blindfolded, our phones taken away, and locked in 3 seperate prison cells- Peter was handcuffed in his. It took us 35 minutes to free Peter from his cell using chopsticks we found and 2 tiny pieces of rope to hit a switch in the ceiling. He never got out of his handcuffs and we remained locked up entirely. I was glad to see I wasn't the only one who had doubts as Abbie kept repeating "we're all gonna die in here!" Until I politely told her that wasn't helpful. After an hour,we were released and walked home dejected but happy for the fun of the night. It's almost one here now, so I'll sign off. Tomorrow, we head to some beautiful art museums which Abbie has been waiting to see!