frienze card

When researching our trip - there was one thing where being a big family actually worked out in our favour - the rest was pretty against us - as to be expected... But the Freinze card for Florence was brilliant! Basically if you bought one (at €72) it gave you access to 72 attractions in Florence (without needing a reservation nor waiting in line) for 72 hours. Probably a bit steep if you are a couple unless very dedicated art and culture vultures but the key with the Frienze Card is that all kids under 18 get in free if you and they, are EU passport holders. Perfect for us with five children and even more perfect that we didn't need to make any reservations so could be flexible AND we didn't have to wait in frankly some pretty hideous queues and bake in the sun.

So using it to its best we decided to climb the Duomo of Florence this morning and were able to without a two hour wait...lucky us! I would have to say though that it was worth anyone's wait - it was spectacular! I had prepared the kids by buying the book 'Pippo the Fool' which detailed the contest that was held to design the dome of the cathedral and how he managed to construct it - which was pretty brilliant. Needless to say there were wonderful views both inside and outside the dome and the 462 steps were a welcomed workout. Home for coffee and pastries to counterbalance all that exercise.

After a prolonged rest in the coolness of the apartment Steve and I along with the older two girls decided to keep up our culture experiences and visited the Baptistry - one of the oldest buildings in the city, constructed between 1059 and 1128 - which to me coming from NZ is absolutely ancient! It was the most magnificent room with its gold dominance, it stories of heaven and hell and three wonderful sculptures from Donatello. Pure joy. Then to gain perspective of the Duomo from another angle we hoisted ourselves up Giotto's bell tower - another 400 steps. Sweating we emerged from the top to be delivered as expected, glorious views and a new perspective of the size of the dome - magnificent.

After our morning culture overload experiences the girls returned to a favourite store - Tiger which has nothing to do with Italy but all to do with providing well designed things that make you feel will enhance your lives! In fairness we needed some body moisturiser and a needle (to remove a grain of sand from a nail bed!) but probably didn't need the paper blow up monkey or the moustache push pins! But it was a minor retail moment and all was good.

Afternoon was a designated swimming one - to another pool, another bus journey into Florence's suburbs and another emersion into real Italian culture (think tiny swim suits for all) before it was home for relatively early night before our early next morning start.

I am finding my photography challenging on this holiday - there are so many wonderful images that I have captured but so little ones with the kids engaging with it - I guess we are all so absorbed by what we are seeing that it's hard to see the kids as my main focus for a change! Loathe also for my memories on blip to just be an image of what we have seen/visited each day...so please excuse what I feel are poor quality holiday snaps!