"Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, 'What! You too? I thought I was the only one.'" ~ C. S. Lewis

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Tuscan Tales Day 4: Florence (aka Firenze)

Yeah! Aren't you excited? More Italy!

After a week in Siena we headed off to Florence. On the way we made a short stop in the lovely little town of San Gimignano (for those of you who, like me, can't figure out how to pronounce that the "gn" in the middle has a "ny" sound kind of like the Spanish enye. So it's Jimmynyano kind of.)
Anyway.


 I loved the look of this little cafe!
 There were towers everywhere! We were told to do 2 things in San Gimignano: Climb the tower and eat gelato at a particular shop. Unfortunately the tower was closed for maintenance the day we were there, which totally bummed me out, but the gelato was pretty amazing. Gelato itself is just amazing. I had it almost every single day. I miss gelato.


 This was our hotel room in Florence. Three other girls and I had this little cottage out back. it was so cute!
 There were these steps up to a little hillside right behind our cottage where there was a little gazebo and chairs. Gorgeous!
 This is in one of the main piazzas in Florence.
 The little gated area in front of the door was where people used to leave babies for the orphanage.

 The Duomo in Florence. It was beautiful and much bigger than the one in Siena, but I must admit I'm a little partial to the one in Siena. We didn't go inside this one, because the line was outrageously long.

 It was kind of creepy that Mary and Jesus were pointing down at us from their perch at the top of the Duomo.



 One of the other girls and I went out wandering around twilight and decided to walk down by the river. It was so gorgeous (I seriously need to find another adjective!) that we stopped and took pictures.

 This is one of my favorites. I love the color of the sky.



 On our way back to the hotel we came across these concrete balls designed to block cars and someone had drawn a different expression on each one :)
Me in front of the Duomo.

And that's it for Florence! We spent a lot of time in museums. Got to see Michaelangelo's David, which was much larger than I anticipated. It was pretty amazing. Quite an experience.

Hm... I can't think of a specific question for today. I know! Have you ever had gelato? If so, what flavor(s)? Did you love it as much as I do!?
I loved the panna cotta, dark chocolate, strawberry. Tried pineapple once, which was pretty good. Mmmm.... gelato....

6 comments:

Sarah Ahiers said...

Yay! I've been to florence!
Also "MAry and Jesus know where you live..."
And ohhh Gelato, how i miss you. We have a gelato shop at our state fair and it's pretty authentic. I typically get pistachio, mostly because i can't remember what flavors i ate in italy. Chocolate or hazelnut or something

Marebabe said...

Here’s a few adjectives you might try:

Breathtaking
Spectacular
Majestic
Sooooo pretty!
Fabulous
Inspiring
Beauteous
Awesome
Overwhelming
Amazing – I saw that you used this one near the end of your post!

I’ve never had gelato, but we have a shop that sells it in Wichita, and I’ve read some rave reviews about it. I’ve somehow just never stopped in. But you’ve reminded me that this culinary treat exists, and I think I shall have to get me some very soon!

Tracy said...

Ummm, not a gelato fan but I'm certainly a fan of the Duomo...what a sepctacular building!
so glad you had a tremendous time. My husband's grandparents are from south Italy and that is such familiar territory for him which he has the same thoughts as you do. He loves it!

Jessica said...

Florence was one of my honeymoon stops! :) Loved it very much. I'm not a big fan of heights, but Hubs went to the top. While I waited for him, I went into a bookstore... bad/amazing idea. Almost bought the Harry Potter series in Italian. Not that I can read Italian or anything, but the covers were purdy.

My favorite gelato was Nutella. Frankly, my favorite anything is Nutella. Nutella makes everything better...

Jessica said...

Just realized, I didn't specify that Hubs went to the top of the Duomo. I figured you would understand, but just to clarify ;)

mym said...

You're very sensible to prefer Siena to Florence, did you pick up that they are great rivals? ;)

I love Siena, it's my other home. pictures from my visits: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mymuk/sets/488197/with/23728642/