This was our last morning in Florence. We packed up, stored our luggage, and set out on foot. We walked by a wine window. Apparently, these were very popular ways to get wine during the Black Death epidemics in the 1600’s, and were also used for pizza and gelato during the Covid 19 pandemic.
We walked to the oldest pharmacy in the world, which has been in operation since the thirteenth century, when it started making herbal remedies for the friars. News of the powerful remedies spread, and it became popular with the nobles as well. The building is full of art made by Renaissance masters.
They used perfumed waters for healing, including for protection from the Black Death, so today it’s more of a perfumerie than what we think of as a pharmacy. They were asked to make a signature scent for Catherine di Medici when she went off to marry Henry II. The scent was all the rage in the French court in the 1500’s. They still make the exact same perfume today, although willow and I weren’t really fans of it. We did find one we loved, Angeli di Firenze, and we got some to take home.
We had a couple of hours before our train, so we went back to the cat cafe for a leisurely tea and lunch.
We were invited by the staff to help put a sweater on the hairless cat, who gets chilly.
It was hard to say goodbye to the kitties when it was time to leave for our train.
We said arrivederci to Florence, and headed to Venice. We made the terrible mistake of buying tickets for the vaporetto, thinking that a boat down the canal would make it faster to get to our place. But it was rush hour, and the lines were long, and the boats were so full that we had to wait forever to get on one. Then it didn’t stop where we needed to get off, but went all the way to the end of the line. We eventually got off, and made it to our apartment all hot and sticky.
The apartment is adorable! It’s tiny, and reminds me of those ikea demos where they show you how you can fit a whole apartment in your bedroom. We have two bathrooms, but one of them is about the size of an airplane bathroom, and has a sink sized for washing one hand at a time.
It has a tiny little loft bedroom upstairs that Willow and Liam will sleep in, and a cute bedroom downstairs for me and Bill. River is sleeping on the couch bed. The kids were really excited to sleep up the steep staircase, but have already noticed how inconvenient it is to come downstairs for the bathroom.
The house has a few funny things. Like this modern shower with an old timey window.
And that fact that you have to be very careful taking laundry out of the washer.
I have never been religious, but I had a sandwich tonight that might change my mind. It was on another level completely.
Because there are no cars here, the streets are sooooo narrow! We could touch both sides on our way to the grocery store.
Our place has the cutest green man door knocker on it.
Which reminds me…please enjoy this assortment of door knockers and handles that I collected in Florence:
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