Next stop was Siena – a beautiful medieval town in Tuscany. It’s famous for its Palio horse race and it’s fan-shaped Piazza del Campo. It was so beautiful here, but unfortunately we only had a few hours and we were on our way to Florence.

Here we did everything! I had a WOW moment at the Academia Gallery when I saw Michelangelo’s David. We also saw a leather workshop and how they shape real Italian leather goods - great discounts at the factory! We gave the students 8 hours or so to roam the city by themselves (which meant we had free time too). By the end, I was beginning to feel human again, finally getting over the jet lag.

We shopped on the famous “Ponte Vecchio”, almost waited 240 minutes in line to the Uffizi’s Museum (gave up after about 5 minutes), debated long and hard about purchasing a leather jacket from the Peruzzi shop and ended up buying an ancient roman coin set in white gold. Finally we climbed the Piazzale Michelangelo to watch the sun set – an amazing view!

Our hotel in Florence was an old lemon orchard, designed like a villa. A few pools, both swimming and reflection, were on the grounds, and the gardens in the spring would be magnificent. The rooms had curved ceilings and some had lofts and brick walls. Each had a chandelier of Murano glass in them. It was a really nice place.

I can't believe that we packed in so much culture on so little time...