Sunday 1st June

Today we had a well deserved sleep-in and a late breakfast. After breakfast we walked to the Prato train station and caught the TrenItalia to Florence. We arrived in Florence just before twelve o’clock and walked to the Duomo of Santa Maria Fiori for the midday mass. After the mass the priest, Padre Alessandro, was amazed that we had travelled all the way from Australia to see his mass. He told us he would pray that Tasmania would stay a safe and peaceful island. We also saw the famous door of the baptistery while we were there.










We then stopped for a quick lunch before walking to Piazza Della Signora. In this piazza we saw many statues including the replica of the statue of David. We then walked to the Ponte Vecchio (old bridge) and saw many amazing gold jewellery stores and we all had the chance to stop and buy some souvenirs. Next we walked to the Palazzo Pitti (Pitti palace). This massive residence was filled with many paintings, sculptures and amazing chandeliers. There was even a throne room because the owner thought he was important.













Our last stop for the day was the Florence markets where people bought scarves, t-shirts, bags, souvenir bracelets, mini statues of David and a certain someone (cough, cough…Mrs Maver) splurged on a genuine Italian red leather jacket. After a very rushed tea we walked very quickly back to the train station, because we thought we were late (and Kelsey started freaking out because a scooter got a little close for comfort), only to find out our train wasn’t leaving anymore and we had to catch a later one anyway.

After arriving back at the hotel a small group of us went out and bought some gelati, except Sally who bought a whole tub of it!! At the end of the day we all went straight to bed ready for a very early start the next morning.

From your expert eliders Bekathy Ciao xx