Florence

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Another belly roll later; we have departed Florence. I keep telling Scott if we stay in Italy too much longer you are going to have a 200 lb wife, but the number keeps increasing the longer we are here. So, as you have figured out we are loving the Italian food. We found some amazing little gems in the city where we enjoyed pizza, pasta and amazing pastries with our afternoon coffee. The first evening we arrived in Florence we were greeted at our hotel by an adorable Italian man that gave us each a welcome glass of Prosecco. Also, since it was our honeymoon, there was champagne on ice waiting in our room with a sweet note congratulating us! We were lame honeymooners and went to an early dinner and straight to bed. We did have 10 hours of tours our first day in Florence which may have been a bit overboard! We started the morning off going to the Academia where The David is located along with many other Michelangelo pieces. We had a wonderful tour guide that gave us some great insight into the life of Michelangelo and the Renaissance period. From the Academia, we did a walking tour of Florence and went on to the Uffizi. Here we saw many other works by Michelangelo and other famous artists of the Renaissance period including Leonardo da Vinci and Botticelli. We enjoyed a quick but relaxing lunch before hooking up with the evening wine tour of Tuscany. Sadly, we were not as impressed with our tour guide on the second tour, however it was wonderful to get out of the city and enjoy some beautiful scenery. We went to three different wineries in Tuscany and got to taste varieties from each vineyard. At the last vineyard, we had a traditional Tuscan style dinner with a delicious meat and cheese board to start along with bread and a variety of fresh olive oils and aged balsamic vinegars. Of course, it was followed with some amazing lasagna and grilled vegetables along with wine for each course. Our last day in Florence was spent climbing the 463 steps to the top of the Duomo and the 414 steps to the top of the Bell Tower. Both offered incredible scenery and gave us a chance to work off some of those added calories! Of course, I couldn’t get out of Florence without buying a leather bag since that is their specialty and Scott also found a nice wallet. Now it is on the train heading to Venice for a quick day and a half before we board the cruise! Sad to think that this is the last stop of our week in Italy, but we are really looking forward to some relaxing time on the boat!

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Photos

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Don't mind the scruff...post hiking in Cinque Terre for 2 days.

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The David

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Tuscany

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Stairs to the top of the Duomo

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Scott's modeling pose! :)

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Duomo

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Bell Tower