Our last full day in Italy - Noooooo!!! Had another wonderful meal with our smiley Beppe and bustling Angelina and this time also Maurizio, Letizia and Valentina (now 18!!!- where has the time gone!!?). The little cousins were again inseparable! It's so special that the next generation also get along so well and that despite langauge differences and distance, continue to be close. Ahhhh FAMILGLIA!!!!!!!!!! Spent the afternoon racing about packing, present buyin...

Andrea took us to beautiful Firenze today!! Oooo so many lovely memories after having studied for my Italian Diploma here every morning for 6 months in 2013. Had lunch with Laura, one of my wonderful teachers. So hot (39 degrees!) and a painful foot, so didn't walk around too much but saw Il Ponte Vecchio, Piazza Santa Croce and of course bought a new leather bag (priorities!!). Visited our beautiful cousin Stefania who's been in hospital since a virus attacked...

Tuesday, we drove to our old house "Il Castello" in Cellai. Wound our way up the incredibly steep winding road to the top with all its lovely views over the Tuscan country side. This time though in Summer.... the only season we hadn't been in Italy for. So lovely to see it again. Took some happy snaps of the kids in some of the same spots as 4 years ago- they're so big now!!! They still loved collecting the little bits of colorful broken tiles from the driveway! ...

Organised to meet up with Anja this morning in Troghi- Zoe and Zac's lovely kindy teacher from 2013. Was really great to catch up and reminisce . The kids were so happy to see her again. Still soooo hot here- high 30s. Felt very nostalgic driving along all the beautiful Tuscan country roads from 4 years before. As beautiful as ever...even in the baking heat! Pencil pines, old stone buildings with terracotta rooves, golden fields- ahhhh bella Italia!! Headed off ...

We left Rome Saturday after lots of dramas with our hire car. Poor Adam had booked and paid for it in full in Australia but after walking 20 mins in the 39 degree temperature to pick it up, was told they wouldn't accept our debit/credit card as they only accept credit cards. Thinking it was just a communication problem, he then walked all the way back to the hotel to collect our bank statements to further prove our card had credit facilities but was still refuse...