In December, Annie and Jen came out to visit me in Florence. We all worked together at Lynn University, and became good friends outside of work. Now, we're all three in different places, so it was super awesome that we all got together.
Annie arrived a few days before Jen, so it was "Take Your Awesome Friend to Work Day" for Annie, (as she put it!) It was so nice to get to spend some time with Annie, and to catch up on the last year and a half. Annie almost left the secure area of the airport without her luggage, so word to the wise - if you're flying into the Florence airport for the first time, it's a tiny airport, and there's no passport control - don't go through Customs without your luggage!!
We didn't get up to too much on those days, as we were saving all of the sightseeing until Jen could join us. We made our own dinner at home, with fresh pasta and caprese salad, complimented with a bottle of prosecco. Delicious.
When Jen arrived the sightseeing commenced. It was a busy time for me at work, so I couldn't take off as much time as I would have liked. During the work days Jen and Annie would explore Florence together, and then meet me at work for lunch. We tried a couple of different local places, including Lo Skipper, one of my favorites. It has the best cannoli! Since we were eating at restaurants for lunch, we continued the tradition of cooking delicious food at home in the evenings.
One afternoon we went to see the David, which Annie and Jen promptly fell in love with. Honestly, the carving is so impressive, I was happy to get an excuse to go back to see it. We also went through the Uffizi Gallery, which has a super large collection of Renaissance art.
On the Saturday that they were there, we did a day trip to Pisa and then to Lucca. We went to Pisa primarily for the Tower, which was fun to see. We asked someone there to take a picture of the three of us with the Tower in the background, but they failed at that.
Jen next to a GIANT column, and Annie and I next to a giant vase/bowl thingy!
Annie arrived a few days before Jen, so it was "Take Your Awesome Friend to Work Day" for Annie, (as she put it!) It was so nice to get to spend some time with Annie, and to catch up on the last year and a half. Annie almost left the secure area of the airport without her luggage, so word to the wise - if you're flying into the Florence airport for the first time, it's a tiny airport, and there's no passport control - don't go through Customs without your luggage!!
We didn't get up to too much on those days, as we were saving all of the sightseeing until Jen could join us. We made our own dinner at home, with fresh pasta and caprese salad, complimented with a bottle of prosecco. Delicious.
When Jen arrived the sightseeing commenced. It was a busy time for me at work, so I couldn't take off as much time as I would have liked. During the work days Jen and Annie would explore Florence together, and then meet me at work for lunch. We tried a couple of different local places, including Lo Skipper, one of my favorites. It has the best cannoli! Since we were eating at restaurants for lunch, we continued the tradition of cooking delicious food at home in the evenings.
One afternoon we went to see the David, which Annie and Jen promptly fell in love with. Honestly, the carving is so impressive, I was happy to get an excuse to go back to see it. We also went through the Uffizi Gallery, which has a super large collection of Renaissance art.
On the Saturday that they were there, we did a day trip to Pisa and then to Lucca. We went to Pisa primarily for the Tower, which was fun to see. We asked someone there to take a picture of the three of us with the Tower in the background, but they failed at that.
Where's the tower?
2nd attempt by someone else = much better!
We stopped at a delicious little cafe on the way back for caffe lattes and pastries, and then caught the next train to Lucca. It was the Feast of the Immaculate Conception that day, so some of the places in Lucca were closed, including the lovely little cafe that Tiff and I had lunch at on my last trip to Lucca. So we pulled out the smartphone and went onto Trip Advisor. We found a recommendation for somewhere right on the edge of town, by the wall, and made our way there. We had to wait quite a bit for a table, but we are so happy we did. It was a delicious lunch!!
We walked around the wall for a bit, and then caught the train back to Florence. On the train we played one of my favorite games, Ticket To Ride - Europe, which was apropos :)
That night we went to Il Pizzaiuolo - a pizzeria near to my apartment. Oh man, we had another delicious meal (that day was one of the best food days I've had in a long time!) We all shared the burrata appetizer and it was insanely good. Mmmmm, I'm sad that it's not in front of me right now.
On the Sunday we woke up early and made our way up to Piazzale Michelangelo, which overlooks all of Florence. We then made our way down and to Piazza Santa Croce, where the Christmas market was going on. Jen and Annie stayed to walk around, while I went to the calcetto fields to help with the Gonzaga-in-Florence inter-pensioni calcetto tournament (a short field soccer tournament among the different places where the students live). That night we went across the river to a nicer restaurant. It was very nice, but not nearly as good as the night before.
On Monday it was the End of Semester dinner for the Fall term, so Jen and Annie cooked for themselves, and I went to that.
On Tuesday, I took the day off and we all three caught the train down to Rome. Jen and Annie booked their flights to depart from Rome Wednesday morning, and we booked a hotel room in Rome for the that night. We arrived in Rome, made our way to the hotel to drop off our stuff, and then went on a whirlwind tour of Rome.
Annie on the bidet in our (tiny) hotel bathroom
Our first stop was to the Vatican for a look around. We walked through miles of museum, into the Sistine Chapel, and then through to Saint Peter's Basilica. We had a lot of fun marveling at the enormity of the collection, the Swiss guards, and the size of some of the objects themselves. I was worried that we wouldn't have enough time to do everything, so we moved pretty quickly around the city.
Jen next to a GIANT column, and Annie and I next to a giant vase/bowl thingy!
We then made our way over to the Colosseum where we posed for photos outside. Our next stop after that was Piazza Navona, where another Christmas market was set up. We also stopped at the Pantheon, the Spanish Steps, the Forum, and at the Trevi Fountain, where we all threw coins in to wish for a return visit (it must have worked, as I was back in Rome less than a month later!) We made a stop for gelato at Gelateria della Palma, which is my all time favorite place.
We spent some time wandering around and looking at all of the Christmas decorations and Italian fashion. Then we stopped off for an early dinner, and a walk back to our hotel. We stopped at the train station on the way back to get everyone's tickets, as we had an early start the next morning.
On Wednesday we all got up early and made our way to the train station. After a little time we figured out which platform Jen and Annie needed to be on to get the train to the airport, and then I left to catch my train back to Florence.
All in all, it was a fantastic trip, full of good food, good company, and lots of laughs (melons; the CDC; I'll just finish myself; Annie using French instead of Italian . . . . .) It was great!! I can't wait for the next Jen, Annie, and Vic Adventure!!
Next stop . . . . London?!?
No comments:
Post a Comment