So we get in the taxi outside the house, my neighbour hugs and kisses me like she's never gonna see me again, within 20 minutes M felt sick, he closed his eyes and slept the whole journey, luckily his aspie brain allows him to shut down when he's worried. We spent the night in Premier Inn in Manchester and we didn't sleep a wink. C fell out of bed,which she found funny. B snored and I laid there staring at a green light on the ceiling. 5am couldn't come soon enough. Up we got and headed to the airport.
At the airport we bypassed all the queues cos of M not being able to stand in queues for any length of time we were allowed special access. We were nice and relaxed and excited to get to Italy. Boarding the plane the staff at Jet2.com couldn't be more helpful, asking if I needed anything to just press the call button. They kept checking in on us throughout the flight, because this was our first flight I had no idea how we'd be, I get travel sick and so does M so we'd both had travel sickness pills, little did I realise that 15 minutes into the flight B would turn green and spend the next 2 hours being sick. The poor kid looked awful and I felt dreadful that he was sat with 2 strangers as I'd had to sit with M and C. But the guy at his side was lovely to him.
We landed and B perked up, we grabbed a taxi, the 5 minute journey to our hotel. The b&b Tuscany Gallery in Pisa, our host Michele was awesome, he had so much time for us, telling us where to go and what to see, also where to eat. We dropped our bags in the rooms, 2 bedrooms and a bathroom, we also had a balcony where we could see the mountains over the houses. We were soon wandering through the newer town, bombed in the war due to it's proximity to the airport, over the river and into the old town, stopping for slices of pizza, the kids even trying fried palenta. Ten minutes later stopping for gelato, sitting outside in the sunshine watching the world go by.
A steady twenty more minutes found us at the leaning tower of Pisa and boy does that thing lean! We took photos and wandered around it but we were exhausted so grabbed a taxi back to the hotel where we freshened up and headed around the corner to the recommend restaurant, whilst the food was delicious, the waitress had no smile or time for the children, however the chef though The kids with their blonde hair were gorgeous and kept telling them.
I was awake early and packed our stuff up, I had to wake the kids up from deep sleep to go and get breakfast, Michele was full of more information about the area and his baking was delicious. We left for a wander around a local market, buying some little handmade gifts for my dad and neighbour.
We grabbed our cases and checked out, Michele telling us where and what to do in Florence, we walked the 5 minutes to the station and caught the train, we decided to cheat and get a taxi even though the station was close by.
Up 3 flights of stairs to our room, traditional Italian decor overlooking a bustling street of restaurants and shops, our hostess Katti Maria and hotel Katti was lovely, ensuring we had help to carry the bags, and settling into the room.
We headed straight out, towards the market area, and into the Mercato Centrale, the most amazing indoor food hall/market, we watched as our pizzas were made and cooked in the fire ovens, we sat and ate more gelato and drank too many fizzy drinks.
Fully refreshed and fed we headed out into a rather warm 26degrees, around the piazzas and streets, to the Duomo, we took photos from outside and decided we were shattered so headed back towards the hotel, grabbing a few snacks to eat later.
An amazing couple of days, my children are being brilliant, so much so that Michele commented on how my boys are not boys, they are men! He thought it was amazing how helpful they were and how polite all 3 were.
We're winding down now ready for more adventures tomorrow.
Fab chez ill follow u all the way xx
ReplyDeleteWatching you ;-)
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