Home from beautiful Florence and the Stampin’ Up incentive trip!

I know, I know, Florence isn't anywhere near Greece! What were we doing there?! Mike and I extended our trip since we were in Rome and headed back to the city of the Renaissance, just an hour and a half away by train. Our previous trip (also courtesy of Stampin' Up) had included the major sites, but there were so many more things to experience that we knew we wouldn't have any trouble at all staying four more days.

We arrived and made our way to the hotel literally on the square of the Duomo, Mike's favorite building in the whole world. Surprise!! We had a balcony room and so enjoyed our breakfasts in the shadow of the gigantic dome. We'd climbed the Baptistery last time so we were glad not to have to do it in the heat wave!

We promptly set off for the Bargello the next morning, followed by the Palazzo Vecchio. Both had been offices, prisons and palaces over the years. A highlight was seeing the Hall of the 500 (Salon Di Cinquecento) and the incredible armory, where we took a lot of photos for Dan. We also saw the two original contest entries for who would get to design what came to be called the "Gates of Paradise."

The Palazzo Vecchio still retains a lot of defensive fixtures like these perfectly positioned arrow slits, especially in the tower. That was worth the climb! Best views in Florence!

The next day we set off for the Laurentian Library, designed by Michelangelo, and the Medici Chapel and treasury at San Lorenzo. The priceless books would have been chained to these study carrels, so you moved to whichever aisle had the subject you wanted to study. Mike was geeking out this whole time, especially when we walked into the special rooms where the books themselves are now on display.

 From there we headed to a new hotel for the next two days, so thankful we had only hand luggage along! We started our third morning in Florence up at the Piazzale Michelangelo to beat the heat, climbing the hill to see the stunning San Mineto al Monte church.

Mike's last priority in Florence (mine was gelato) was to see the Branacci Chapel in the church of Santa Maria del Carmine. It really was worth the visit, and we were able to squeeze in a visit to Santo Spirito in the same neighborhood. One of my favorite memories is the market in the piazza there, with a lovely lunch al fresco, watching people do their marketing and doing a little shopping ourselves.

We totally lucked out on hotels this trip. Check out the view from our windows this time– that is the Ponte Vecchio and Vasari Corridor, with the Palazzo Vecchio tower in the background!

Our final afternoon was spent in the magnificent Palazzo Pitti, a sprawling palace-fortress filled with priceless art and sculpture. Room after room after room, every single one of them different and astonishing. We especially enjoyed the palatial apartments, including Napoleon's bathroom!!

One last evening stroll along the Arno, one last gelato, then it's off to bed and then back to Rome and home! We were pretty much arted-out at that point and things were beginning to run together. Plus, we couldn't wait to get back to the kids! 15 days altogether we were gone. Other than a looooong delay out of Rome, our travel day went well and we made all the connections. It was a good end to a great trip!

Thanks for bearing with my travel photos! Now I will start playing with the new stamps, papers and punches we got on the incentive trip and sharing sneak peeks of the upcoming Holiday 2019 mini catalog. I can't wait to show it to you! And if you're wondering how you can get one, the answer is to place an order in July and get yourself on my mailing list! I have to finalize the list by the 31st, so don't wait! Here's my shopping link: http://bit.ly/shopwithLyssa