We (including Nickie) left Roma in our rear-view mirror and embarked upon the next leg of our journey...Firenze (Florence), Italy! Firenze at Christmas-time is filled with happy shoppers, bedazzled streets, and a blessedly marked absence of tourists.

We stayed in our host, Lorenzo's, beautiful two-bedroom apartment with a living room and balcony right in the center of Florence. From our window we could see the market (that was completely set up and taken down everyday), as well as a medieval parade. (Please see photos)

We were within easy walking distance of the Duomo, Ponte Vecchio, and the Uffizi Gallery. (And well just about everything else). We strolled the darling streets emblazened with holiday cheer, and took in all the aforementioned sights. As we had all been in Florence before, it was a bit more lesuirely, as we didn't feel that mad desire to check every box.

On our first full day we headed to Lucca by train. Lucca is a charming medevial town, with a Roman ampitheatre under the main square. You cannot see any of the Roman ruins, but the piazza, that sits upon it, is completely in the oval shape of the ampitheatre. After lunch in the piazza, we set out to climb a tower! We climbed an old tower with trees growing on the top of it. (See photos!) We also walked atop the city walls that are still completely intact. (See "Lucca in Love" photo, which was designed and taken by Nickie:)

The temperature was dropping each day of our stay, but we went to the outside street market anyway. We were shopping and shivering, in turn, when we realized we needed the Bancomat (ATM). The vendors sent us into an unknown building, and when we went inside, we found PARADISE, otherwise known as Mercato Centrale, a beautiful heated food market (Think EATALY, and in fact, EATALY was in there). Twas wonderful, and warm. (I spent a good ten minutes in front of the heater). There is a rather lame photo of Merato Centrale in the photos, but it gives you the idea.

After a lovely lunch, Nickie and Kimberly headed to the Uffizi, and Steve went shopping! (Those who really know Steve, know he LOVES to shop!) The Uffizi was wonderful, and there was NO LINE to get in, which is something of a Christmas miracle in itself. See the photos of a Botticelli, a Caravaggio, and a Michelangelo. Stunning. And Steve scored some beautiful Italian leather shoes! Success all around.

The next day, we were off to a mostly sunny, but cold Milan. However, it started with a bit of drama, as we missed our train, because, wait for it... it left early! The good news is that we were upgraded to Club Car on the next train, which was all kinds of awesome.

We were booked at a lovely hotel, saw the beautiful cathederal, went to the Galleria, but our absolute high note, in Milan, was the Caravaggio exhibit at the Palazzo Reale. We could not get online tickets at the last minute, so we waited in line for 1 hour and 15 min in very cold temperatures. We were rewarded with a wonderful presentation of Caravaggios, both the paintings, AND xrays of his works, to show how he worked. No photos were allowed, but you can see a Caravaggio I posted from the Uffizi. In fact, as we had been travelling around Italy, we would often see notices in museums that said "Sorry, this painitng is in Milan", so it was a treat that we got to see over twenty Caravaggio's in one place.

After the exhibit, we walked to Galleria for lunch. This is a famous shopping area all dressed up for Christmas, including a tree filled with Swarovski crystals. Absolutely mobbed, as in there were A LOT of people there!

The next day brought the time for us to say goodbye to both Milan and Nickie. (Sad Face) See photo of Steve waving goodbye to Nickie's plane. Next up for us...Dublin, Ireland!