(Kim, right before we were supposed to get off, getting excited to drink her Expresso0-to-go. Should have video taped this for her super excited and impressive reaction)
4:50pm—we finally make it to Florence, and head straight to the hotel to find Jen & family before dinner. We walked in a mini circle, and then found this very sweet place, our hotel. I won’t give the name away since it’s Jen & Tony’s top secret place in Florence… but this was even an upgrade from our hotel in Barcelona that we <3.
(One wing of the hotel suite...)
We walked to dinner at “Il latini.” The place usually has lines around the corner of people waiting to eat here, but due to the world cup, it was not quite as packed. This place was so cute, and the amount of food that was thrown on our table was overwhelming. We could have definitely fed a small country with even the amount of food that was uneaten between 8 people.
Everything tasted delicious that I could eat (which was little), but the other foods looked incredible as well. At one point I had 4 drinks in front of me, and I didn’t want any alcohol. Red wine, Vin Santo (and biscotti –“contucci” cookies), Moscato D’asti (desert wine that tastes like Champagne, only better!), and water.
After dinner, we wandered from place to place, catching bits and pieces of the game. Then we found a Spanish bar in the main piazza and saw the final goal and the crowd celebration (see Espana Wins post.) While we were walking, we would hear loud roars of crowds from all different directions… as Americans, we assume that meant a goal. Every time, though, it was just an almost goal. In the words of Chuck Klosterman, soccer is one of the only sports where failures are celebrated.
Kim and I topped off the gluttonous night with a scoop of gelato to commence our last night together. One woman didn’t want us to taste any of the flavors, so we did not give her our business. We took our gelato and ate them on the steps of the Duomo.
the Duomo @ Night
Another young Australian tried to strike up a conversation with us by asking why all Americans are routing for Spain. I was quite confused by this question by this question and responded with, “I don’t think most Americans gave a shit who won.” Which is essentially the truth.
July 12th—Kim’s official last day. We woke up super early, and headed out in the town around. We walked around the Duomo, across Ponte Vecchio (the most famous bridge in Florence—and I’m obsessed with bridges so this was especially beautiful)
& Palazzo Vecchio. We strolled passed the Boboli Gardens, but didn’t enter them because it would cut into our power shopping time. We started our shopping at approximately 9:45am, and were sitting down for a quick early lunch but 11:00am. No shopping was spared by the number of bags we had in hand. Kim had her final Italian/ European meal at a cute café “Gilli” near the main piazza. (She was really drawn to this place because of its vast variety and display of candy though none was purchased from here.)
(insert Kim’s picture of us in the mart when I get it!!)
Kim departed and The family and I started our ambiguous journey to Volterra. For you Twilight lovers, this is home to the ruling vampire family, the Volterri, however no actual footage from the movies was actually filmed here. It did, however, have underground gambling happening:
As we began the journey in our European Escalade,
we did not know the journey that lay ahead of us. There was about 2 hours of windy roads, which made just about everyone in the car nauseous. The drive was beautiful; It was full of hills, sunflowers, and vineyards.
The town was pretty also. After eating, touring around, and shopping, we headed back to Florence. (The drive home was much quicker and easier considering everyone slept.) Too tired for dinner, I went to the local mart and picked up some salty seeds, and jarred red & yellow peppers (instead of being soaked in olive oil they were in some sort of gross pickle juice—definitely not Claussen’s pickle juice.) and some spicy mini rice cakes for the following day. Again, why do we not have these in the US?
The next day, Tony, Frankie and I headed to Santa Croece Church. This church is where Michaelangelo,Leonardo Da Vanci, Donte, Gallileo, and other very important people in history are buried. The church was partially under construction, so the alter wasn’t the prettiest site to see, but supposedly its something special ;)
Since I had a strapless dress on, they made me where this very fancy polyester robe. After leaving, Frank did not want to waste such a fine piece of clothing so he carried it for a good 10 minutes before pitching it. (Mind you he threw out a half full water bottle 10 minutes before entering the church. He is so conservative.)
We met up with the rest of the clan at “il Gatto e la Volpe” (the Cat and the Wolf) for some lunch. The grilled veggies and salad were delicious =) No, that’s not all I ate this entire trip.. but mostly. I really ventured out in Venice (but that’s for the next blog.) Then we stopped by the gelateria “Vivoli” which is where ice cream was invented. Obviously this is one of the greatest places in the world.
After lunch, Kaitlyn and I went to do some shopping errands and to search for Paulie’s push pop which was nearly impossible to find. The kids then went home to rest, and I walked off to explore the Buboli gardens. I made it inside the gardens, passed the ticket collector unintentionally, and realized that I couldn’t buy a ticket at the entrance. When I went to the ticket office there was a long line. I was so over lines and waiting for tickets that I turned on the gardens. I was tired, hot, and in desperate need of these shoes I’d been eyeing for days. With 4:00pm quickly approaching, I rationed that I just didn’t have enough time and that I wouldn’t enjoy the gardens as much as my shoes. Who knows if that’s true, but I will think of the Buboli Gardens everytime I wear my new shoes. I say shoes because of course I couldn’t walk out of the shoe store with one pair of shoes. Luckily it was only 2. (I had 4 pairs in my hand at one point, but didn’t think I could fit it in my luggage.)
For our final dinner in Florence we went a bit out of town to “Vecchia Osteria Nacchero”. We had a real elegant dinner….
But really, this place was delicious. I had vegetable flan (which was like a kiesh yum!) and grilled chicken. Apparently they were out of salad (and everything else) so I could only have the chicken part of my chicken salad). After dinner, we sat in the main square (I think Palazzo Vecchio, but i could be making that up) and had some dessert while the kids shot off those dumb light-up flying things that I have seen every day since being here. But, I will admit, it does keep the kids entertained.
Florence Observations:
- Tourism is really down in Europe. Lots of empty restaurants (which is a good thing with the kids).
- The roads are almost exclusively for walking. You have to have a permit to drive on them
- The Duomo is incredible. And I’m glad that our only picture in front of the famous golden doors is with Kim & our Spanish flag.
- All the famous statues have been replaced with replicas and put in museums (for obvious reasons, but something you don’t normally think about.)
- There are lots of bridges & art in Florence—Just beautiful.
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