Afternoon with David’s cousins

(This is part of our series of posts from our six-week Road Scholar Independent Living and Learning in Florence trip to Italy in Spring 2025. We have an index to all the posts from that trip here.)

We spent this afternoon with David’s second cousin David Shacter and his wife Melody, who are on their own tour of Italy and stopped for a couple days in Florence. Then it was on to our weekly happy hour to catch up with our fellow Road Scholars.

The two Davids chowing down on sandwiches from I Fratellini for lunch.

Melody and Cheryl enjoying their sandwiches.

I Fratellini is a well-known sandwich shop that is literally a hole-in-the-wall near Orsanmichele, a few blocks south of the Duomo. Long lines of people, locals and tourists alike, buy their sandwiches and then eat them along the sidewalks.

After lunch, we took a gelato break at one of the locations of Cantina del Gelato, near Mercato Sant’Ambrogio.

David, Melody, David & Cheryl at Porta alla Croce in Piazza Cesare Beccaria, on the east side of the historic district.

Florence reflected in the Arno, from Ponte San Niccolò.

After saying goodbye to David and Melody, we headed over to the San Niccolò location of Ditta Artigianale for our weekly Road Scholar happy hour, where we exchange stories and information.

Road Scholar feeds us very well at these gatherings. Naturally, David had his mouth full when the photo was taken.

I passed the Tower of San Niccolò on the way back to our apartment from the happy hour. Once part of a porta (gate) in the old defensive walls of Florence, the tower now stands alone in Piazza Giuseppe Poggi. The tower was first erected in 1324 and stands 115 feet tall.