The Scroop's European Holiday: Day 33 Florence:

We decide today we will get back to familiar territory, the open top bus tour! We have some breaky and pack our bag with ham and cheese, a loaf of crusty bread and some fruit and make our way down to the start of the bus tour. This is a very easy 300-400m walk. The location of our apartment is fantastic. It seems we are within a short walk to most of the main attractions and this makes getting around simple and quick. We board the bus which will take us on the blue route. It’s a bit chilly on the top of the bus but we are expecting it to warm up soon. We complete the route and see some fantastic stuff along the way, mainly up and around the Machiavelli where we are high up on a hill and have great views over Florence. We jump off the bus and grab a coffee and some cakes and get back on the red route bound for the small town of Fiesole (pronounced Fee-ez-o-lay). This route covers the Machiavelli again but in reverse which was great before taking off toward the hills on the other side of Florence. We wind our way up the hill and have fantastic views of Florence from the other side. We decide to get off the bus and take a wander through Fiesole and try to find a spot to stop for lunch. We take a walk up some very narrow roads higher up the hill until we get to a spot overlooking olive trees and an awesome view of Florence. We sit on a wall, cut up our bread and chow down. It is quite warm now and it has become a beautiful day. We finish up and decide to walk back to the bus as it only comes every hour so if we miss it, it will be a bit of a wait. Our timing was perfect as we get to the stop just as it arrives to take us back. We head back to the apartment for a rest before heading back out again around 4ish. We start off by going through a handbag shop and then decide to find somewhere to eat just as we exit our 95^th and last handbag shop. One thing’s for sure, I need a drink! We find a restaurant in the same piazza as last night because the 3 piece band is back playing again. The restaurants here have guys out the front showing you the menu and talking it up so you will eat at their restaurant, a lot like Lygon Street in Carlton. We order some wine and some food and the old guy at the front of the restaurant comes over and gives the kids a ticket each for a ride on the carousel in the piazza. We enjoy a beautiful night with lots of wine when the old guy is back with a free lemoncello for Kris and me. We’re not huge fans of lemoncello but we can’t offend the old guy so we drink up. We are feeling pretty sloshed at this point so we decide on grabbing some gelato on the way home before hitting the sack.