Firenze

Ben and I were fortunate enough to take a two week trip to Italy and Nice, France following his graduation.  It was pretty much amazing as was expected.  I feel truly grateful that this trip happened, but as usual, it also sparked my MUST TRAVEL gene.  Unfortunately that's not always possible, especially with new jobs.  However, I will always have incredible memories of our trip, and I want to document it here.  We arrived in Florence and stayed for three nights.  We then stayed in Siena for two nights and took a day trip to Montalcino while there.  After that it was 2 nights in Venice, two nights in Cinque Terre, two nights in Nice, and one more night in Florence before taking off.  The only unfortunate thing (besides a migraine in Cinque Terre) was that it was a lot colder than the weather reports had predicted.  My one pair of jeans was worn everyday, and the majority of my pictures will have my trusty sweatshirt and often either my jean jacket or green jacket on over it.  Thanks heavens I brought those 4 items and a bunch of v-neck t-shirts.  My poor, cute, summer dresses didn't really get the showcase I thought they would.  I don't think I have ever wished I had packed my boots as much as those two weeks.  In the long run, it doesn't matter though.

So this blog post is dedicated to the great city of Firenze, our first stop.

We stayed at the Hotel Dei Mori which was a wonderful B&B.  Peter and Danny were incredible and made us feel so welcome.  Here was our room:

It was right by the Piazza della Signoria which was a great location.  Once we arrived, jet-lagged of course, we just went for a walk.  We stumbled to a random pizzeria for our first meal and had some wine on the Piazza della Signoria.

The next day we visited the famous Uffizi Museum in the morning and stopped by local shops to pick up our lunch which we ate on the terrace at our B&B.  

In the afternoon, we took a tour into Tuscany to visit some vineyards.  We really loved the wine at the first one and the olive oil at the second.  It was beautiful out in the countryside, and I'm so happy we were able to go for at least an afternoon.

That night we were able to meet up with my second cousin, Jessica, and her boyfriend, Nicco, and eat at Quattro Leoni which was across the Arno.  It was great to be able to see some family and get some advice from people who live in Florence!

It was a long but amazing day.

The next day we were up bright and early to visit the Accademia.  We were awed by the David.  I had seen the David when I was only 12 and visited Italy with my family, but age definitely adds a lot to the experience.  We also walked up to the Piazza Michelangeo across the Arno to see some absolutely incredible views. This was the one recommendation from Jessica and Nicco that they insisted we do, and it will be my major recommendation from now on as well. 

We did a lot of walking around, eating gelato, and drinking good Italian wine.  Here are some more pictures of our time in Florence.

So there were more pictures than anyone other than our parents need to see, but trust me, it's only a tiny little bit compared to the actual amount we took.  Next up on my Italy journal--Siena and Montalcino!!  Arrivederci!