Arrivederci Firzenze! Ciao Siena!

Today started off on the wrong foot as we overslept.  Our wake-up call never came and with no clock in our hotel room, we woke in a frenzy and ran around the room packing our things and frantically preparing for our last day in Florence and our transfer to Siena.  Another problem I found when I woke up this morning was some strange looking bug bite on my left leg.  It was so large and itchy that I could not bear the thought of wearing pants.  I threw on shorts, which led to more dismay just a short time later…

We finally got out the door at 11 a.m. (two hours later than we had planned), which put us at the Duomo right at the peak of tourist traffic.  Since this was our last day in Florence, we knew we just had to deal with the lines and wait it out.  The line to get into the church didn’t take very long after all, and we made it inside in less than 15 minutes.  As soon as we got to the front of the line though, the guard shook his head at me that I could not go inside in my shorts.  Vendors on the street were selling scarves to cover women’s exposed shoulders and arms, so I frantically tried to pay a vendor for one of his scarves.  An Italian guard came over to me, and I can understand Italian enough to know that he told me if I bought I would be arrested (or maybe he said banned?) from the church.  He lifted the gate for me to run out to the square and purchase a proper cover up.  What a disaster, considering I had been wearing pants all week, despite the intense heat, and knew this rule about entering churches.  The stupid, itchy bug bite really threw me off!  After scrambling to find a scarf in a place where I wouldn’t be arrested, I finally was able to enter the church.  It was beautiful inside!

Then we got in the line to climb the steps to the top of the Duomo (or dome).  This line did not move nearly as quickly.  We waited in line for at least 40 minutes before we got inside to climb the stairs.  The stairs were narrow and steep, but the climb was well worth it!  At the very top we saw the most incredible views of all of Florence.  The red rooftops and all of the views were just gorgeous!

After the Duomo, our time in Florence had come to an end.  We got one last sandwich and gelato, and immediately headed for the buss to Siena. The bus ride was beautiful, the road surrounded by green rolling hills. 

Our hotel in Siena was exactly as imagined—a rustic bed and breakfast in the middle of the Tuscan countryside.  We took a bus into the square, called Il Centro, and enjoyed watching the nightlife around us.  As Kyle put it, “This is the coolest square in Italy.”  We ate our first spaghetti pomodoro, which as basic as it sounds, was incredibly delicious tasting of basil and rich tomato sauce.

To conclude our somewhat “off” day in Italy, we caught the bus back to our hotel, just as the bed and breakfast manager had described, but our bus driver was busy chatting on the phone and blew past our stop before screeching to a halt over a mile later.  At this point it was pitch dark and we had no idea where we were.  She yelled something at us in Italian while motioning with her hand backward.  We assume that meant we needed to walk back in the other direction to reach our hotel.  After about a mile of walking in the dark with small Italian cars whizzing by, we determined that we had no idea where we were and nothing looked familiar.  Luckily, we came across an elderly man walking his dog, and again our Rosetta Stone Italian lessons came in handy.  “Dove il Palazzo di Valli?” asked Kyle, pointing at the hotel on our cheap map.  The man said “a destra!” and pointed ahead.  He simulated driving a car and told us it was “not far.”  Not far by car, we decided as we walked another half a mile to where we finally reached the gate of our hotel.  At least we ran across this nice man so we knew we were headed in the right direction.  I've never been so relieved to reach the gates of an unfamiliar hotel before!  Moral of the story is: when in doubt, take a taxi!

Viva Azzurri!

We started off our second day in Florence with a tour of the Uffizi Gallery where the largest collection of Italian Renaissance art is housed.  The Uffizi is a huge, impressive museum full of thousands of religious paintings (mostly of Madonna and child).  Our favorite room housed Botticelli paintings, including the birth of Venus and Spring.

After exploring the Uffizi for several hours, we went to a little sandwich shop called I Fratellini that our friend Monica recommended.  This was one of the coolest experiences—you walk up to the shop window, choose from a list of 20 sandwiches, order a drink and pay.  Then they make your sandwich right there in front of you and hand it to you for you to enjoy on a nearby sidewalk.  For $3 euro each, I had a delicious caprese sandwich with fresh mozzarella and delicious basil.  Kyle ate hard salami with goat cheese.  The Florentine bread is unsalted, which takes a little getting used to, but at I Fratellini it tasted wonderful!

After lunch it was time to indulge in more gelato!  This time we tried a place that came highly recommended by friends and travel guides alike—Grom.  Grom had the most delicious gelato we’ve tried yet, with fresh fruit and rich, creamy chocolate.

Then it was time for our visit to the Accademia.  The Accademia is a much smaller museum than the Uffizi, but its history is quite interesting.  The museum was a former art school where artists like Michaelengelo studied painting, sculpture and architecture.  There’s also an area of the museum devoted to the musicians who studied there with a collection of 15 and 16^th century violins, pianos and other instruments on display.  The highlight of the Accademia is the statue of David, carved out of marble by Michelangelo in the early 1500s.  David is a massive masterpiece that we couldn’t take our eyes away from.  The detail in the sculpture is absolutely incredible—from the muscles to the veins in the hands.  How Micehlangelo was able to carve that out of a giant block of marble is unbelievable.

We ended the day with dinner at a local family-owned restaurant that the hotel concierge recommended.  We feasted on fresh toretellini with red sauce, ricotta and basil and mushroom pizza.  The food was delicious and the experience was memorable.  The family (who were the chefs, bartender and waitress) were watching Firenze football—an ancient sport that they now play on occasion that is a mix of American football, rugby and boxing/wrestling.  Kyle was fascinated and plans to look up the rules and story behind it.

Italy played England in the quarter finals of the Euro Cup, so we found a local pub to watch the game.  There were Italian teenagers wrapped in Italian flags yelling and waving their hands at the television—exactly the kind of atmosphere we were looking for!  After over time, the game went to a shoot-out to decide the winner.  The tension in the pub was palpable as Italy missed its second goal and England made its first two.  Italy made its third goal and England hit the cross bar, missing it’s third.  Then by an exciting turn of events, the Italian goalie made an outstanding stop on England’s fourth shot, and suddenly Italy was shooting for the win.  The English goalie dove left and the striker shot right—Italy won the game!!!  The pub erupted and the Italian teens ran around with the flags around their necks, cheering, singing and hugging each other.  We got it all on video, which I’ll post as soon as I can get the images downloaded.

Amiamo Firenze!

After a good night’s rest, we woke up relatively early, ate breakfast at the hotel, and set out to explore the city on foot.

We walked to the Accademia, the Duomo, the Uffizi Gallery and the Ponte Vecchio.  We were awed by the size and architecture of the Duomo.  I stood there with my jaw dropped, unable to believe what I was seeing.  We will hike to the top of the dome on Monday when the other sites are closed and see the 360◦ views of Florence.

We found an incredible little sandwich shop off the beaten path where we had one of those meals that will live in our memories forever.  For just 10 euro each, we had a salami Panini (yes, I have thrown out all of my “rules” about food for this trip and am planning to eanjoy the local fare) and glass of house red wine.  We got to practice our Rosetta Stone Italian, saying “vino rosso per favore!”  Salami rosso looks and tastes more like ham than salami.  It was thinly sliced, salty and delicious.  The bread may have been the best I’ve ever had.   The ciabatta was crunchy on the outside, light, flaky and warm on the inside.  The sandwich had a light pesto spread that put it right over the top.  Looking out the window at the cobblestone streets, I nearly thought I’d died and gone to heaven.

We walked the along the water and across the Ponte Vecchio.  The buildings and roads are exactly what I pictured Italy to be.  Across from the Ponte Vecchio, we ate at a Gelateria.  I had a raspberry gelato and Kyle had a mixed berry gelato.  It was a fresh, satisfying treat to cool us off on what was already turning out to be a very hot day.

In Rick Steve’s guidebook, he wrote that you can go to the Orsanmichele and buy tickets in advance for the major attractions.  Thanks to that tip, we saved hours in line and will go to those sites tomorrow.  In the meantime, we went into some old, beautiful churches, including the Orsanmichele and the Santa Croce.  We ran into our Parisian friends outside the Santa Croce—what a small world!  Inside the Santa Croce, a 14^th century gothic church, we saw Michelangelo and Galileo’s tombs. 

I must admit that I had to take a nap to recharge my batteries, but then we headed out again for an incredible dinner.  Thanks to a recommendation from Joe, we went to a local gem called 4 Leoni.  We had an incredible meal—highlights include our bruschetta pomodoro appetizer, homemade fagottini stuffed with sweet potato in a asparagus cream sauce, eggplant parmigiana and the lightest, creamiest cheesecake we’ve ever tasted.  We sat next to some Japanese tourists who ordered an unbelievable amount of food for just two people, including two giant bowls of mussels and clams, a plate of tripe and a kilo-sized steak—surprisingly though, they ate every bite!

The city was alive at night with people walking everywhere and live bands playing on the streets.  Florence is a breathtaking city both by day and by night!

Change of Plans…  First stop: Pisa

After an unexpected turn of events, Pisa became our first stop in Italy proving that even the best laid plans go astray. 

As I recap this scenario of planes, trains and automobiles, keep in my mind that we left LA at 4 p.m. on Thursday, June 21.  Twenty-six hours later after a 10.5 hour plane ride on Air France’s massive A380, a transfer from Charles De Gaulle to Orly Airport, a connection from Orly to Pisa, and a bus ride from Pisa to Florence, we ultimately arrived by taxi to our final destination in Florence at 2 a.m. local time on Saturday, June 23. 

Our travels were going relatively smoothly until our flight from Orly to Florence was increasingly delayed.  Information as to what was causing the delay was hard to come by, but we met an adorable French couple who translated the airline’s reports for us.  The couple told us that workers at the Florence Airport had gone on strike and no flights would be able to land in Florence today—and worst of all there was no telling when the strike would be resolved.  Seeing the look of uncertainty on our faces, our new Parisian friends told us that we could either: request a standby ticket to Rome and then take a 4-hour train ride from Rome to Florence; take a 7-hour train from Paris to Florence; or stay in Paris and wait out the strike. 
Luckily, Vueling Airlines came up with the best back-up plan for us considering the circumstances.  Vueling arranged for our flight to land in the nearby Pisa airport and then a chartered bus took us the 1 hour distance from Pisa to Florence.   

What started off as the longest flight I’d ever taken, quickly became the longest, most exhausting travel day we have ever endured—and hopefully ever will.  

There are two things I’m looking forward to remedy this situation—a good night’s rest in our lovely hotel in Florence and the promise of gelato for 12-straight days to come!

Italy Bound!

As we make our last minute preparations for our trip today, I can’t get the words of Nicki Minaj’s song “Moment 4 Life” out of my head: “No, I’m not lucky, I’m blessed. Yes.”   

This trip is not only a dream come true, but a reminder of just how blessed we are!  As we embark on this adventure, I will update this blog to share pictures and stories from our travels.   

First stop: Florence.  Stay tuned!

Our European Dream Come True

Europe was somewhere I’d always dreamed of going—a faraway, romantic place that I would love to explore one day.  I didn’t know how or when it would happen, but I always knew I would get there one day…

That’s why when I heard about the contest that a local L.A. radio station (97.1 AMP Radio) was having to win a roundtrip for two to Paris to see Nicki Minaj live in concert, I knew I had to try! The contest was running for five days, and throughout the day whenever the radio station played the Nicki Minaj promo, that was your prompt to call in.  The 20^th caller would win Nicki Minaj’s new CD and be entered into a drawing to win the grand prize trip for two to Paris. I listened to AMP Radio all week, just waiting for my chance.

Driving home on a Thursday night, I heard the promo on the radio and immediately called.  By some sensational stroke of luck, I got through and was thrilled to find out that I was the 20^th caller!  As soon as I got home, I researched the contest online and discovered the drawing would take place the following Monday.  Of the 60 contest winners, just one would win the grand prize.  I waited anxiously all weekend, hoping against hope that I would somehow win that prize. 

On Monday, I got a voicemail from the radio station, saying “We’re calling about the Nicki Minaj Black Friday CD that you won. Please call us back as soon as possible.”  I called back a few hours later, disappointed to hear that they were only calling about the CD.  But when I called, the AMP Radio promotions manager, Tara, told me that she wasn’t calling about the CD at all—she was calling to tell me that I WAS THE GRAND PRIZE WINNER OF THE TRIP FOR TWO TO PARIS! 

At that moment, I had an out-of-body experience where it felt like I was floating outside my body watching the scene unfold below.  I vividly remember yelling into the phone, “You’re kidding me!”  Tara assured me that while this was hard to believe, I won the contest and would be going to Paris this summer.  I yelled, “SHUT THE FRONT DOOR!” and began jumping up and down in the middle of my office. 

And that’s where our European adventure begins!