DAY 3 - Florence (steps and vespas)

We walked down to the Florence National Central Library, where we met our tour guides for our Vespa tour. After a short drive, we were at the garage in the Tuscan countryside. The garage was full of vespas and vintage Fiat 500s (these were seriously small). We failed to realise we had booked to ride together, and after a short test drive and meg nearly crashing into the fence once I sat on the back, we decided that I would drive. This of course meant that meg was the back of seat photographer for the day (and unripened olive picker - she managed to feed Scott one and it's fair to say the bitterness did not go down so well). We made a few stops including a vineyard where we tried some of the grapes and Basilica di San Miniato run by the San Miniato monks, where we ate some freshly made gelato before stopping at the tour company's estate for an authentic Italian lunch (the bruschetta and pasta was delicious). We returned to the garage to drop off our vespas and get a lift back to the city centre (we didn't realise we were getting picked up in a huge army like 4x4). Once back in town, we headed to the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore to complete the 463 step Brunelleschi's Dome climb (much to megs dismay with her knee). This was absolute ordeal in the heat but well worth it for the incredible 360° views of Florence. Once we finally descended, we went back to freshen up. Our quick freshen up turned into a 6pm bedtime and 12 hour sleep. (thankfully, this dealt with any residue jetlag). We're back to the Walkabout Tours estate tomorrow for our Italian cooking class!Read more