A weekend in Florence

My husband today ran the Florence marathon, his best run so far that he completed with a whopping 3:27:09. We had planned a family weekend in Florence for the occasion, but one by one we all got sick but him. My mom got sick at the end of last week, so that she and my dad had already decided not to come. In the hindsight, it was a good thing, because my dad got the flu halfway through the week as well. My son started having high fever on Thursday night. These damn European viruses!

It was just me (with a bad cold) and my husband who thus made it to Florence. I had planned a whole bunch of kid-friendly activities, so I felt a bit unprepared when we arrived. We had a great time though, in spite of the anxiety for my son being sick at home.

The wardrobe chest in our hotel room

We travelled to Florence on the high speed train, and we reached our destination in just one and a half hour on Friday night. Our hotel (Riva Lofts Florence), which we had booked again through Mr and Mrs Smith (of whom I am a big fan, as I mentioned in my earlier post) was really nice. I fell in love with this wardrobe chest that was in our room, and I am planning on finding a similar one for our home! 

Hotel guests could use free bikes to go around town

On Saturday, after picking up my husband's marathon pack, we headed downtown. The weather was gorgeous and we were able to have lunch outside on the terrace of La Rinascente (yes, we discovered there is one here as well!) overlooking the Duomo. We spent the afternoon at the Uffizi Gallery, which I had never visited before, and then walking around the downtown area.

View of Florence from the rooftop terrace of La Rinascente

Our hotel's concierge had suggested checking out Flor, a luxury perfume store in Borgo Santa Croce where one can choose her own essences. It is definitely worth a visit, and a purchase!

The luxury perfume store Flor in Borgo Santa Croce

The marathon was on Sunday morning and while I was on my way to the finish line I bumped into an unexpected find: the only brick-and-mortar store of one of my favorite websites, luisaviaroma.com. There I saw, and I am now officially in love with, Proenza Schouler new PS1 multicolor tote. I hope Santa is generous this year :-)

The store of luisaviaroma.com

Proenza Schouler PS1 multicolor tote

P.S. You can find more pictures of our trip on Flickr!