(L) Off to a bit more of a slow start today - down to breakfast at 8ish!! 

We set off in the direction of the Bargello Museum as Deb really wanted to see all the statues it holds, unfortunately it is closed the second Sunday of every month... OF COURSE IT IS!!!! BOO HOO..... so we continued on our wanderings and what we found was a true delight. We stumbled quite unwittingly into a square where there was Christmas markets being held. As we walked around we heard some drums so we followed the sounds and were rewarded with a truly amazing sight.... there was a group of men in traditional costume doing flag tossing.... what a treat and as usual we just managed to "find" it without even trying!! Next we thought we'd find our way to a great looking Vegetarian restaurant that Deb had found online, we had looked for it yesterday but although we thought we had the address right it was just a roll-a -door and all closed up. Today however we were there at 12 on the dot which is when it is supposed to open.... it looked open so we headed on inside and as we went to pull ourselves out some chairs and take a seat a very uptight woman asked us if we'd made a reservation. " Umm no, we haven't" ... "Oh well let me check the book" she says as she proceeds to pull out a tattered reservation book and then tells us that no... sorry, we're fully booked for lunch!! She wasn't sorry and wasn't even remotely friendly. This place may have amazing veg and vegan food but it is soooo exclusive there is no sign over the door and you'd best make a reservation if you'd like to eat there! 

Duly chastised we headed out once more into the streets of Firenze and found ourselves in the Piazza della Signoria where we had an average kinda lunch. Both of us had a pasta dish which was ok but cost us €30 so not a cheap meal but then you sort of expect the extra charges when in a popular tourist spot! 

After all our wanderings we made our way back to the motel by just after 1 pm.... my Cupola climb was booked for 2.30 so we wanted to have a bit of a rest first!! Deb had originally planned to come out with me and sit somewhere with a wine or coffee whilst I climbed however it was a pretty cold blah kind of day so I told her I'd be happy to take myself off to the Duomo if she wanted to just chill in the room...which is what she did! 

When I arrived at the Duomo I made my way straight inside because I thought I had to go in the main entrance... once inside I realised there was no access to the Dome as we had previously thought and so I had to go back outside and around to the side entrance where I presented my timed ticket for admittance. The climb itself is quite arduous, lots and lots of stairs - 400 and something!! - and it's very narrow in parts so when people are trying to come down while others are going up it can be rather a mission for everyone to fit in the confined space. The view from the top is awesome and well worth the climb...... just totally blows my mind that this was built so very long ago. 

Once the climb was done I made my way back to the Hotel, the streets were teaming with people by this time of day. We chilled for an hour or so and then made our way back to the Duomo for a cocktail with a view for our last night in Florence. 

Dinner was takeaway pizza and a fairly early night.... tomorrow is our last full day in Italy and we're off to Rome!!

(D) Liane has covered everything though I must add my joy to hers at our discovery of the flag throwers, the sbandieratori, we discovered later - thanks Google! It was such a serendipitous, accidental happening that totally made our day and we had such fun and admiration watching them perform these amazing manouveres that apparently date back to medieval guilds. It was perfectly atmospheric; the music and costumes as well as the actual display itself - thoroughly enjoyed it!

Though Liane felt the lunch we had in the Vecchio square (Piazza della Signoria) was only average mine was something I really enjoyed - the pasta was fresh, the tomato piccante sauce was delicious - I definitely didn't want to add Parmesan as it would mask the flavour which is a very good sign I think!

I was happy to "miss out" on climbing the Duomo - not really my cup of tea being terrified - lol!, but I'm glad Liane did it..... and I definitely enjoyed the cocktails in front of the Duomo later as our farewell to Florence.....what a view for cocktails - best in the world!!!