We opted for an easy day so we could let our tired boy catch up on his sleep. We all slept in then went down for a late breakfast. And of all things, as I was at the coffee machine a woman approached and asked, “Do you come from Westin?” Of all the small world things, here was a family from the same town as Jayne and Silas and not only that, but the same school and same grade as Silas. Try as we might , we couldn’t get him to interact. He told us “you always talk too much and tell too much”. Oops. My mom used to do the same thing. Sorry, Silas.

Eventually we headed out with our first stop at a tiny spot that I had heard about on YouTube….I Fratellini, a sandwich and wine bar. We perused the menu and each chose a sandwich to go. I couldn’t resist the herring and red onion combination. Perfect for the Dane in me. Further along Jayne found a little shop with all sorts of luscious looking fruit. She chose strawberries.

Once again we crossed the river this time on the bridge just one over from the Ponte Vecchio. It was fun now to look for all the signs of the Medici family, now that Marco pointed out their symbol of six balls. Course every time I pointed it out, Silas laughs and says “Grandma, you said BALLS!. Ah, life with a young boy. We meandered along until we were in front of the Pitti Palace. For the first time we stood in line for tickets but it didn’t take long. We decided to just go through the gardens and to skip the palace. It was a beautiful day to be wandering around. It was not crowded, which was a nice change from the masses of tourists and tour groups, especially those of students. I have my own student with me, which is enough for me.

We just rambled along from one pathway to the next, enjoying the extraordinary views along the way. A few areas were planted with English style plantings, with boxwood hedging, but most was open spaces. Apparently this is the largest green space in Florence. We came upon a nice, shaded bench overlooking Neptune’s pond. Silas declared it to be lunchtime. We pulled out the sandwiches and strawberries and decided it was one of our best lunches yet!

We then went to investigate the pond and were delighted to find it home to a mother duck and her eight ducklings!. They were hard to part from as it was so cute to watch them swim unafraid away from the mother.

It seemed the higher the elevation the better the views. Up at the top point we found views that looked like what I expected Tuscany to look like. And I was delighted to see massive wall of Lady Banks roses in bloom – they are the same as I planted at home last year to grow over a new trellis. Fingers crossed that mine ever begin to look as good.

Then we were all a bit warm and tired so headed back toward the hotel but of course we had to stop for the afternoon gelato. This was the fanciest of the multitude of gelateria that are here – Venchi – it has a wall of chocolate flowing in the background and they can coat the cones or bowls with chocolate. Guess what Silas chose? Always in a cone covered in chocolate. But then while eating it I mentioned “oh, they covered the chocolate with nuts.” And he replied, “Grandma, you said NUTS!”

And now we’re tucked into our hotel room while a random thunderstorm passes over dumping a bit of rain. Silas is amusing himself with his gaming, as he likes to do in our afternoon “veg” time. I looked out into the odd outdoor area outside our room and saw the woman across the way who has every day put out laundry to dry hurriedly pulling it in. I gave her a big wave and thumbs up. You have to love how life is here.

The storm passed so off we went for dinner. We were dining at one of the restaurants in the main plaza and Silas saw the vendor selling these toy aerial things that glow at night – we’d seen them before and promised him we’d try to get him one. So while we were awaiting our meals Jayne went out with him to procure one. They are actually a lot of fun as you shoot them in the air and watch as they flutter down.

Dinner over we went back out to send the aero helicopter up multiple times. But there is another attraction in that plaza – an old fashioned carousel. I asked Silas if he wanted to ride it but at first he declared he was too old for it. Later he stated that if Jayne and I also rode it , it might be fun. So, of course, we did.

Ans as it’s our final night in Florence we went searching for a spot for dessert and another glass of wine to top off the evening. Thus far, Silas has been great about our liking of our favorite God, Bacchus.