Part Three: Florence!

"Love this moment, and the energy of this moment will spread beyond all boundaries."-Corita Kent

Oh Florence. How we loved thee.

Florence has a soft, sweet romantic feel that leaves you breathless and in complete awe. Florence is captivating. Florence is charming. Florence is sexy. Florence is mind-blowing. Florence is love. Florence is the subtle soft side of grand. Florence is the Renaissance.

Florence is mother-of-all gelato.

This great city pulled us in and held on tight. We immersed ourselves in everything Florence had to offer. And true to our little sponge like selves, we soaked it all in.

We stayed in the coolest hotel. It was an old building from the 17th century that has been completely restored into a small hotel. It overlooks the Boboli Gardens (photo below) and has a stunning rooftop terrace! A quiet, quaint hotel that was in the PERFECT location.

 Welcome drinks on the patio!

 Our hotel was right on the Ponte Vecchio Bridge, which was full of life from sun up to sun down.

 View from the bridge....The Arno River was so beautiful!

 

 

 After being in the city for an hour, Russ exclaims, "I really love Florence!".

 Ok, so dinner on our first night was just perfection. It was at this small, but bustling little restaurant tucked away off the main drag. We sat outside and had ourselves a big time :)

 

 Twinkle lights. Pasta. Wine. Bread. More Wine. Hello awesome.

 View from the square towards restaurant!

 

 On our walk home.....so enchanting and lovely.

 Ok, so I am kinda fond of him :)

The first of many, many, many gelato stops!!

The next day we took a walk around town and did some quality explorin' before we left for a half day trip to Chianti! We popped Rick Steve's: Renaissance Walk Podcast on our iPhones and got our walk on. It was a great way to tour the city at your own pace, and it was nice to not be in a large tour group for a change! The fake David is below....

 The Bell-Tower with the famous Duomo! GORGEOUS!

 

 Cathedral....sigh.....

 My God the magnitude. The colors. The detail!

 

 

 And now, wine country folks!

 So incredibly relaxing and beautiful!

If you find a rooster on your wine bottle, that means it is a Chianti Classico! That means your wine was made and bottled right in the rolling hills of Chianti!

 The cellars were something else. They had wine stored from every year all the way back to as low (that I saw) as 1913! I went out of my way to find wines from the years everyone in my family was born, and they were all there!

 And of course, Russ was singing, "Dust on the Bottle"....

 This is where the tasting and eating went down. We sampled many wines and at "Tuscan" foods!

 Meat, cheese, bread with special marinara, and more bread with Chianti Extra Virgin Olive Oil! YUMM!

 

 Russ being ridiculous!

 

 

We bought a bottle of the 2009 Chianti Classico and it made it back to the USA in one piece! They said it would be best enjoyed around 2016! Lets see if it makes it that long :)

 After the tasting, we had about an hour to walk around and enjoy Chianti's town center. We made friends during our tasting, so naturally the four of us looked at the lovely "greve" (photo below: center of town) for a few minutes....and then decided to hit up a local wine tasting spot. Excellent decision by us :) When in Chianti?

 When I retire, I am going to open a place like this. It is pure genius. It is like The World of Coca-Cola....but with lots and lots and lots of wine. You fill up a card that looks like a hotel room key with money...then slide the card into the wine slot you want...it deducts the amount of money for the pour...you taste...you repeat....and repeat and repeat. We had a BLAST. Since we did not have a lot of time...it made it even funnier. Russ was like, "We just did the equivalent of a 2-3 hour tour in 43 minutes guys". Again, it was awesome.

 

 

We had so much fun with our friends from Canada! We even had dinner together that night! And you know what? We had more wine :)

Chianti and Tuscany....I am coming back for you.

The next day we went to Pisa! The town famous for its Leaning Tower! However, there is SO MUCH MORE to Pisa than the tower. I am so glad we chose to take a day trip there because one my my top sights was there, and no, it is not The Leaning Tower!

 

 OK so we had fun being super touristy. Russ was on a roll....

 

 

 

 

 Ok so the cathedral was my favorite, and perhaps one my favorite cathedrals of the trip. It was truly magnificent. It blew us away, and probably because we were not expecting it. Everyone talks about The Leaning Tower, when really, they should be talking about this amazing cathedral.

 The soft sound of hymns, the candles, the golden art, the beautiful marble floors....

 GORGEOUS!!

  

Then, The Baptistry. Equally beautiful and amazing.

 And a walk through the town of Pisa and a look at the university!

 
 Back to the action....

 Field of Miracles. I think I did a snow angel type movement in the grass. Just sayin'.

 Ok, a less touristy shot of The Leaning Tower :)

 

 So, Pisa gets two thumbs up! We came, we saw, we conquered. Check that off the Italy Bucket List!

A little dinner...

 

 

 Gelato, DUH.

And on our final day in Florence....True to form....I packed the schedule. No time to waste! Too much to do, so little time!

We finally got to go into the cathedral, climb the belltower and climb up into the top of the Duomo!

The hike to the top of the Duomo was life threatening and also life changing. I am SO GLAD we did it, but I am real real good with not doing it again. I almost cried coming down, and literally kissed the ground when we came out. That was like 900 stairs of death people. We were a hot, sweaty mess.

 Behind those shades is fear...and amazement.

 Belltower!

 

 And gelato because you made it back down safely! I fell in love with dark chocolate and peanut butter gelato! Oh my!

And back on track....

Original doors to the Baptistry. Solid gold and unbelievable!

 Bell tower fun! Somewhat less scary, and more in the 500 steps of death range.

 Hey. There is that "light" again! It was in this photo, but not in the one immediately following it. Just sayin'. I am not cray cray. And there was no plane or flying object in sight, so don't even go there.

 

 Inside the Baptistry!

 

 Gonna doctor this photo up one day...I am thinking Black and White and some cool shading!

All smiles at a park picnic....and did you know it was pigeon mating season? Hot and bothered pigeons is a visual I wish I could burn out of my brain.

 And finally, the cathedral!

 Got yelled at for shorts (my Catholic girl self should have known it it was coming) and had to buy this cute little drape.

My face to Russ for mocking me and saying "I told you so" at least 12 times. Thanks Russ! Of course your shorts were long enough!

 

Our final night :( Up on the terrace of our hotel!

 Boy boys. One photo. Happy.

 Pitti Palace on our way to dinner!

 Cheers to Florence and long talks about our next stop....VENICE!

And there you have it!

I should perhaps note that we also did the Uffizi Gallery (You know, the home of my friends: Botticelli, Da Vinci, Michelangelo, and company) and Academia (The David and Michelangelo's The Prisoners) one day, and you cannot take photos in either of these museums. They were fabulous, that is for sure!

We will return to Florence one day. Yes we will. This city left us wanting more and more. This city combined everything we love. Art, music, scenery, romance, religion, life, food, wine, and gelato. And much more.

Russ will tell you Florence is his favorite of all the cities! I tend to agree, but I cannot say that for 100% certain.

 On to Venice!!

Love,
Emily and Russ