On Wednesday we got up and said goodbye to Florence…

Just adding this because I want to remember how pretty it was!

We had a driver take us to our next destination! We did make a pit stop at Ristorante La Rochetta for a wonderful – and very HOT – lunch!

Please enjoy this panoramic photo Maxwell took. ha!

We then hopped back in the van and I thought I was going to die it was so hot but the payoff was worth it when we finally arrived at Villa d’Este in Lake Como!! This stop was really the impetus of the entire trip. GJ and I had been to Villa d’Este many years ago and always wanted to return. I am happy to report that it lived up to my memories and then some! Our room was so nice and big!

We explored the grounds…

and took 1k photos…well, I made GJ take 1k photos of us to try and get some that made me happy. I can be difficult to please with photos…grateful for family members that put up with me.

The entire hotel is just a dream!

We dressed for dinner that night at Terzo Crotto at the resort…

and took even more photos!

Dinner was fantastic with perfect views of the lake…and the biggest mosquitos you’ve ever seen.

That night there was even a fireworks show that we could see from our room!

Perfecto indeed!

Lots more Como to come!

On Tuesday we were ready for some adventure!

We were all a little unsure of the adventure planned but we gave it a go!

Yep! We hopped on bicycles and biked our way through the very busy and small streets of Florence! Our guide, Philippo, showed us the sites along the way…

and then we made our way outside of town which was very cool to see!

We biked our way up to Piazza Michelangelo which was not an easy ride – not necessarily difficult but uphill and challenging. I was very proud of our crew!!

The ride down was much easier!

The tour included lunch so we had a full, heavy sit down lunch complete with a bottle of wine that no one wanted! It was still nice…and Robert got in some good conversation with Philippo! ha! Robert is the best.

That afternoon we had tickets to go into the Accademia Gallery to see the David! Very impressive!

The museum had plenty of interesting statues to see!

Arter that we walked through the Duomo museum which provided a nice air-conditioned space to walk around for an hour! and some interesting art too!

That night we cancelled out on our fancy dinner and got some pizza instead! Good decision!

Of course we had gelato after!!

A fun day full of Florence adventure!

We had an Italian summer adventure and it was a DREAM! 10 days of perfecto! We traveled to Venice, Florence, Lake Como, and Milan – each stop was better than the last! Well, Lake Como was better than all of them but every place was magical. I took well over 1k photos so get ready for several days of trip photos! 🙂

Our adventure began on Thursday night flying out of Atlanta to Venice…

We arrived to Venice around 11am and took a car and then a water taxi to our hotel, Londra Palace.

Our hotel was perfection! Great location, excellent room setup, and so nice!

I didn’t even get a picture of our incredible balcony with the best view! We got freshened up and went out to explore!

We stopped in shops, got some pizza (which the kids insisted was their favorite for the rest of the trip) and pasta, and walked all over Venice!

We even stopped in Gucci which Samantha loved…

Late afternoon we took a gondola ride and then headed to dinner…

After dinner came gelato…of course!

An excellent start to the trip!