Life as a expatriate means the occasional trip to the American Consulate for one thing or another (this trip included signing up for an absentee ballot) so I headed to Florence on Tuesday for that, took Alex with me, and made a day of it!

 

Follow me!

Here’s one of me, just to prove I was there.

Quick Italian lesson:  that dome in the background is Florence’s Duomo, but ‘duomo’ doesn’t actually mean ‘dome’.  It means ‘Cathedral’, and the one in Florence must be seen.

A closer view.

A further demonstration of why the Italian fashion industry is universally envied.  Apparently my bare shoulders were an affront to Catholicism, thus the ‘coprispalle usa e getta’ (disposable shoulder cover).  This was the first time I’ve encountered this in an Italian church. 

Alex took this one of me and a horse.  The smile was the fruit of a friendly exchange between me and a young girl whose entire large family walked obliviously between me and the camera at 5 second intervals.

And this is just because I lked it.

In case you’re wondering about her conspicuous absence, Lia was not invited on this particular journey.  Every once in awhile mother and son need a little of time for uninterrupted bonding, no? 

We had a really great day.  Alex was in a good mood, the weather was lovely, we got things done, and just really enjoyed it.  On our way home we stopped off at Ikea and bought a thing or two…photos to follow once I have assembled it all!