Thursday was maybe my favorite day of the trip! We started with breakfast by the lake…

and then took a full day boat tour of Lake Como! Our tour guide was so nice and informative. He showed us all the sights of the lake – including Clooney’s house! – and it could not have been better.

We stopped and walked around the Villa Del Balbianello which is where they filmed some of the Star Wars films as well as some James Bond scenes! It was beyond beautiful!

It was a little windy up there though!

Loved these trees at one of the houses on the island – some accessible only by boat!

We stopped for a fantastic lunch and took this photo featuring Robert’s hat. ha!

This is the life!

We also stopped and walked around Bellagio which was neat and very steep!

It was a very full and long day on the boat!

We returned around 4:00 and the kids couldn’t wait to swim and jump in the lake!

Robert was game for it too!

That night we had dinner “in town”. GJ and Samantha dressed to match the hotel!

Dinner was good and all I got from it were pics like this from the kids…

It was nice to walk to and from the restaurant and then walk around the hotel a bit that night.

I think we could all get used to that Villa D’Este life!

On Monday afternoon we walked all over Florence…

including finding my school from sophomore year of college and the street where I lived! I couldn’t remember our exact address so not sure which door was ours but we were close!

Razorbacks in Firenze!

Some important purchases were made…

including a special one on the Ponte Vecchio!

That evening we climbed the 465 winding steps to the top of the Duomo Bell Tower! The climb wasn’t that bad and the views were pretty impressive!

Robert catching a breeze halfway up!

Dinner that night was what Robert was most excited about – Trattoria Dall’Oste! Turns out there is more than one in Florence and I’m not entirely sure we actually ate at the one we had a reservation at but, it was an incredible meal! It was a little confusing to order but we ended up with some of the best food of the trip!

Samantha’s pasta being made in a giant cheese wheel…

Spencer’s wagu!

and Maxwell and Robert’s Florentine steak!

I had a steak with green peppercorn sauce that was to die for. Everything was top notch!!

After that we walked off our dinner a bit…

and then of course got some gelato!

A great day start to finish!

After a full day exploring Murano and Burano, we headed to the Venice train station and hopped on over to Firenze!

We got checked into our hotel – Hotel Brunelleschi. It was good – not quite as luxurious as our hotel in Venice – but the room setup was great with all three rooms behind one connecting door. The decor was a little more modern and our view was of a wall, but it was still a really nice hotel right in the middle of Florence. We had dinner that night at Paoli and it was SO good. We definitely had better food in Florence than we did in Venice!

The stairway to the bathroom was definitely not ADA compliant! ha!

After dinner we got gelato near our hotel – and I think this was our favorite gelato of the trip. We went back each night we were in Florence!

They shaped the gelato like a flower, put a macaron on top, and they had mint chocolate chip – what’s not to love?!

We walked around Florence a bit and enjoyed the sights at night. I kept trying to get my bearings and find something familiar from my semester there in college but…nope. I barely remembered anything to be honest. It was about 25 years ago!

The next morning we met with our tour guide to go on a “Florence Artisan Tour”. We saw someone making the marbled Florentine paper, pressing and melding gold pieces, and incredible mosaics. I am not sure if the kids enjoyed it quite as much as me and my mom but it was one of my favorite days of the trip! Our tour guide also gave us plenty of historical facts about the sights we passed along the way.

First stop – paper marbling! Watching him make the pattern was mesmerizing! I could have bought everything in the store!

Ta da!

Ferragamo!

The Ponte Vecchio!

Next stop – the goldsmith. He showed us how he imprinted patterns onto gold and even imprinted a Lire for the kids. He also melded some pieces together. We definitely walked away with some gold souvenirs!

After that we went to the mosaic shop. We saw all of the stones they have and then watched two craftsmen carefully piecing together intricate and very detailed mosaic pieces. It was pretty incredible!

We then said goodbye to our guide and finally got one of the Florentine sandwiches Robert had been hearing so much about on his social media! ha! It was good!

More Firenze to come tomorrow!