Florence - Part 1

Che bello!  Bellissimo! Want beauty in your life?  There are many ways to achieve this but I found a new one this weekend: Go to Florence!

We had our first overnight holiday this weekend as a few of us trekked to Florence for the weekend.  What an adventure we had!

Our departure for the weekend occurred Friday night (after our exhilarating Italian culture class).  We were a rowdy group of 6 aboard the fast train (makes little to no stops) with fun & frivolity on the mind, and bottles of wine in bags. ;)

J & T (the lady photobombing wasn't part of our crew, but

she became T's new bff with her phone arm extender lol)

A & E

M & mia

After our short train ride, 2 hours non-stop to Florence – similar to my trips to Regina back home only this is Florence, not Saskatchewan :p – we had arrived!

It was pretty late at night but the city was so alive.  The energy was astounding and I still felt very safe walking in the area we were. 

For the first time our group was trying out Air BnB – a site where you rent someone’s place for your stay instead of using a hotel or a hostel.   Great idea and can usually find some wonderful places to accommodate large groups of people for a great price.  One of our group members was in charge of accommodations so he had contacted the guy who needed to give us keys to our place while on the train.  So standing outside our designated location – not the place of stay mind you – all of a sudden a small, expensive black sports car quickly drives up and out pops a gentleman in a suit.  Impressed with the scene so far, he made introductions and then quickly headed inside to get us keys.  When he reappeared, he quickly threw the keys at us, told us in a general way where our renting place was, and then hopped in his car and took off.  Mouth in hand, we were like “okay” but having lived in Italy for a month we knew that this is how Italy rolls and weren't too shocked (slightly, but not totally).

So we found our place of stay – a quaint little ground floor apartment – after a few rights, lefts and twists and turns.  Upon closer inspection, and in preparation for bed, we found we had no hot water.  Oh boy!  Let’s just say one with a mouthguard had to be inventive on making it work.  And I did ;)

Bedroom #1

Kitchen

Bedroom #2

Living Room

VHS' for our viewing pleasure (although there

wasn't a tv or VHS player)

Bagno

Mouthguard warming up aparatus

(Yes, start stove with lighter and hope to keep eyebrows)

View of the street of our abode

Our next big surprise came the next morning.

There we were – calm, quiet, serene and dead asleep when someone walked into the apartment at 7:30 am.  What?!?!  That’s what a friend tried to utter amidst being woken up midsleep.  Well it turned out that our “landlord” had come with a couple of guys to check a tree in the courtyard (Why?  We don’t know, but he did).  He was probably just as startled to see us as we were him since he did not know that we were in his apartment this weekend.  It turns out he uses an agency to advertise his place on Air BnB and they hadn’t notified him of our stay.  *sigh* Oh Italy.  Again, not surprised.  Those of us in the other bedroom just closed the door, rolled over and went back to sleep.  Turns out his visit was a good surprise as he fixed the hot water heater.

Our water heater wasn't too old fashioned ;)

So after a hot shower, we were off to find breakfast and start our day.  Breakfast in Italy usually includes a pastry and small cup of capuchino/machiatto/expresso not what we usually attribute to being breakfasts in Canada. 

Coffee & brioche

Then we were off for the day. Oh Florence, what beauty you behold!  Our day was filled with a trip to Il Duomo di Firenze (the Florence Cathedral), where upon first sight by my breath was taken away.  For a small fee we got to take a very steep, intricate stone staircase to the top of the Duomo to get a 360 degree view of the city.  It was amazing!  I’m fearful of heights but this trek was SO worth it!

Il Duomo di Firenze

Look at the architecture!

Ceiling of the dome

Our crew trekking up the staircases to the top of the dome

Florence from above!

Tricky staircase (very vertical)

View from a window via the staircase

Next we meandered around the city for a bit then decided to go to the Galleria dell'Accademia to see David by Michelangelo.  I’m not a huge art fanatic but it was one of those things that while you’re there you need to see live, in person.  I was quite impressed though.  All the pictures I’ve seen did not translate into the size he really was.  It was very impressive!

David! (Oh my!)

(Yes, photos were allowed!  We read all the signs and had

museum staff remind us only of no flash allowed).

Then we shopped.  Florence is known for its leather goods – shoes, purses, bags, coats, gloves, you name it.  The cool thing was that there are a bunch of little markets and vendors here and there, but also every second shop along the streets is a leather goods shop.  I’ll always recall Florence when I smell leather.

Street art

Market

High end Florence

We regrouped later that night for supper at Toto.  It was a fabulous little restaurant, with a hunk of beef just hanging out by the stove from which they cut your steak from to cook right there.  The ambience was very traditional North American restaurant and the food was superb. 

Most restaurants have their menu (or part of it) posted

outside so you can see what type of food they serve.

See the hunk of beef ready to be served for dinner? ;)

 With wine in hand, we headed back to our place.  The great thing about the place we were staying at was that it was within easy walking distance from the touristy area and the weather was so beautiful that it made for a great evening walk home. 

Upon arriving at our abode we found two things: a) the hot water didn’t work again, and b) there was water all over the kitchen (the water heater had leaked everywhere).  *sigh* Again when it Italy….. So what did we do?  Like the Italians would: grabbed some mugs (lol no wine glasses) and enjoyed a bevy or two while we played card games into the evening. 

Cheers!

It was a fantastic day which started and ended with things so typical of the country.  Oh Italy! How you never cease to amaze me! ;)