Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Florence, Italy

Florence, Italy
Love, love, love, love Florence!!! I could live here for sure!
First impressions:
Wayyyy better than Pisa!
Cleaner, chic, lots of shopping!
b&b we are staying at is incredible





Most beautiful B&B I have ever stayed! Love love the pink walls. Asked Greg if we could paint our halls pink...he wasn't into it;) surprised?



Amazing wallpaper want it in my house- will look everywhere for this wallpaper we are meant for each other!!!:)



Silly:)


Me in our room by the pretty window
Headed to see the David statue...another naked man yeah:)
-sorry no pictures allowed-too bad for you;)
Oh wait no worries Greg got one of David in the piazza (no pictures inside museum)
Very, very out of proportion...Greg and I have decided it was intentional to make every man feel better about himself. Just a thought, crude but a thought:/


You're welcome:)

Walking food tour:
Well worth every penny!
Started out 10am for local breakfast pastry and cappuccino -I ate my weight in pastries...you think I'm kidding don't you?
Why don't we have more pastries in the US? Donuts are not cutting it people...I will learn to make pastries no worries:)


Headed over to a few local stores where Italians buy everything they could possibly use for cooking to art supplies
The guy who owns it is names Dr. Bizzarri -no joke!


My cute husband and a bunch of flavored oils:)





Bought lavender oil for house
Also suggests clove oil under tongue to keep from getting sick-gonna try it
Everyone seems healthier here
Better shape and eats more-it's the walking I'm sure of it oh and the no cars creating so much pollution
Next went to local market to Baroni oils, cheese and meats
-such a sweet couple we got treated like celebrities
-sampled cheese, oils, jams
-shipped a bunch of oils, cheese, noodles and jams home-very excited to eat it all when we return to USA
- this was Greg's souvenir:)









We loved this lady, she was a trip! I wanted to take her home to Texas!!!
After market headed over to truffle bar
-unreal good! They just mix truffles with butter and put it on a 2" long sandwich
-we will dream about these sandwiches:)
-note to self buy some truffles, lots of truffles- the white kind is better


On the way to lunch we picked up gelato at the most amazing place called Carapina
-we thought we had had the best gelato...we hadn't had this yet!
-all natural, had flavors like: lemon, honey, choco hazelnut, strawberry, ricotta cheese/candied fruit, latte (milk), cafe latte, almond, blackberry, pistachio) had it 3 times yesterday:/
After gelato headed to lunch at (because we were so starving:/)
-authentic Italian
-sweet grandpa and brother run the restaurant
-they gave us a sampling of everything...yes, it was so much food but we managed
-my favorite was the fried meatballs-I do love fried stuff just don't have it much:)



The Grandpa cooking in the kitchen


Greg and one of the sons that runs the restaurant


This is us with Claire, our food tour guide.
We didn't finish tour until about 4 pm, can't believe we ate all day!
We were both sick we were so full but walked it off the rest of the day
Covered the whole city on foot-saw everything we wanted to then went to our dinner reservations that Claire made for us (food tour guide)
-claire was awesome, she was our age and had lived in Florence for 6 years. Got a Masters in Italian so was great to ask questions and was our translator
-I hope to keep in touch with her- we would be friends if location allowed:)
-can't believe we ate again for dinner but had a light anti-pasta dish
....then gelato again! Geez!



Us eating dinner...should have skipped it;)
Plan to go on a diet on monday-haha! For real!



We spent a lot of time in cafe drinking cappuccinos:) nice face Greg:)
Headed to Vience now....
Train way better than the others
Didn't get a ticket for 9:30am train so had a few more hours in Florence
Sat down for a cappuccino near station (mistake) it was horrible and when you sit down they charge you double (crazy)
Greg tried not to pay for our horrible coffee but lady threw a fit (italian style-loud and embarrassing:/ no offense to any of you Italian friends out there:)
so Greg reluctantly payed 12 US dollars for 2 drinks we did NOT drink-ughh!
Thankfully we have been able to avoid these type of places all trip!
Getting train-sick
Riding backwards makes me sick apparently:/
Looking forward to Mexican food when we get back Sunday:)
Tuscany is beautiful even out of train windows






1 comment:

The "W" Family said...

what an incredible trip! I'm living vicariously through your pics! Have fun!