Ninja Turtles Museum

Uffizi Tickets

Another day in Firenze means another Museum – Uffizi today!  We purchased an audio set and began the tour.  No photos are permitted inside the museum so we have no evidence we were actually there but I can assure you that we saw all Ninja Turtles works of art.  Just kidding – Botticelli’s Birth of Venus and Prima Verra were absolutely spectacular.

Vivoli Gelatos

After Uffizi we walked around Florence and stopped for a Gelato at Vivolis, which came highly recommended.  My pistachio/crema gelato tasted like heaven in my mouth.  We took a break to enjoy at Piazza de Maria Croce then headed out to Michelangelo’s Plaza to watch the sunset.  The photos say more than I ever would be able to articulate about how amazing it was!

Sunset from Michelangelo's Plaza over Ponte Vecchio

Writing this all out I am realizing how much we accomplish in one day!  We’re just packing it all in there.  Anyway, we had the BEST dinner at Giostra (I highly recommend this dinner spot to anyone visiting Florence – you must make reservations prior through your hotel, fyi).  Mike had his highly anticipated Oso Bucco and it did not disappoint.  Of course I stuck with cheese ravioli, which was no ordinary cheese ravioli.   You can taste the passion in preparing each dish.  The owner was there (pictured with us) and he greeted us several times to assure we were enjoying ourselves.  It was the perfect way to end our time in Florence.

We are so sad to be going but feel like we were able to see so much and thoroughly enjoy the city and culture over the last few days.  Next time we come we would like to visit the countryside as well.  I want to walk through sunflower gardens   Until then, we are off to Roma!

Uffizi

We found a parade!

The random parade in Firenze

The view from Michelangelo's Plaza

On the Steps

The view as the sun set

Little did we know we were about to have the best meal ever!

Our happy place

The "prince"

 

The Highly Anticipated Cinque Terre

Hello everyone!  We are a few days behind on blogging because we’ve just been having too much fun.  We definitely want to keep you all informed though so we’ll do cliff notes versions for a couple of days until we get back on track!  It doesn’t help that our hotel here in Roma doesn’t have wi-fi!  Oops.

Train to Cinque Terre please

Anyway, here’s the story about our day at Cinque Terre:

We got to the train station about 15 minutes before our train departure in order to print our tickets but the machine wasn’t working.  We scrambled around for what seemed like the length of an hour and then just like a movie scene we ran for our train and barely made it on time.  The train ride to Cinque Terre was a little over two hours.

<3

We immediately started our walk on “Lovers Lane” which is the path between the first and second town.  As you can see, people write their names on the wall and attach a lock or a symbol of togetherness on the fences or trees or wherever they can find.  We settled for writing our names

The second town was quaint but beautiful. The restaurant we decided to settle for because we were starving wasn’t so great though!  There were flies everywhere.  It was not what we were expecting to say the least so we got out of there as quickly as possible.

Look familiar?

From there we accidently hopped on the metro heading the wrong direction (we are getting great at back-tracking) so we decided to do the towns backwards – from 5 back to 3.  The trek from 5 to 4 was no joke!  It was 4 km and we were sweating.  We couldn’t help but reminisce our LITW experience.  Each step was a clear reminder of how we got here!

We finished out the day by sharing a bottle of wine at a little stop at leg 3 of Cinque Terre and then took the train back to Firenze.  By the time we arrived back we couldn’t wait to shower!

After freshening up we went out to the town to seek a dinner spot.  Little to our knowledge, Riostrantes close earlier on Sundays and it was nearing 11pm.  The concierge at our hotel opened the bar area for us and made us Caprese and a plate of meats and cheeses followed by the perfect end to our night – Limoncello.

Here are a few photos from last nights dinner and the rest from today!  Enjoy and we’d love to hear comments as well.  We miss our family and friends

Our hotel's Living Room area

Nicoletti has a place close to my heart

Our fancy shmancy dinner

Walking through Firenze from dinner

Trail Shoes, LITW style

First Stop @ Cinque Terre

Say this 5 times fast...

Locks of Love on Lover's Lane

Town #2 (Manola)

Looks great right?

Yummy fly in our Olive Oil

My "I'm trying to pretend I don't want to vomit" face

Now we're talking... From Town #5

 

And then 4km later....

A well deserved glass of wine

My handsome man

The end to a great day!