Skipping Town

We had just a little time in Florence this morning before our checkout and train ride to Rome. We took some pictures in front of the Duomo and Santa Croce, then had another breakfast at Forno Ghibellina. We dragged ourselves and our bags to the train station to catch our train to Rome. We'd chosen seats where four were situated around a table, and the girls and Mom and Dad had a gin tournament on the ride--a tradition they started during a train ride in Portugal last year.  We got two taxis at the Rome train station to take us to our Air BnB. This apartment was gorgeous--murals on the ceilings, artwork everywhere, lots of portraits--but the bathrooms were ancient to the point of being almost unusable. And the beds were very very narrow. This is an important detail, but we won't realize that for another two nights. Famished, we went right away to lunch at a place across from our apartment, Bistrot Navona. We squeezed around a table outside and had: Drinks: glasses of prosecco (m...

Day trip to Sienna! We had breakfast at Bianco, a small cafe near the car rental place, Rental Plus, then went to pick up our rental car. Andrew, as usual, had taken on the task of driving us all to Sienna, about an hour away. Sienna has an outdoor market every Wednesday morning, and we were happy to have chosen this day as the day of our visit. We found parking in a garage and navigated our way to the market (with a few wrong turns). It was a huge market--I imagine this is where people who don't have Target do their Target shopping. I got a purse, Lucia and I got some fancy straps to swap out on our new purses, Lucia got some crystals, Mom got a wallet. Then we had lunch at Bar Il Palio, sitting outside, overlooking the main piazza. It was a lovely setting. We had: Drinks: glasses of prosecco (me and Mom), beer for Andrew, hot chocolate for Greta, Fanta for Lucia Me: quattro formaggio pizza Andrew: Toscana pizza Lucia: prosciutto and burrata Greta: pappardelle with wild boar sauce...

Another day, another delicious breakfast of cornettos and caffe lattes, this time at La Casa del Caffe. My cornetto was especially buttery and flaky. We had a big morning planned: tickets for the Uffizzi. It was an incredible museum, and absolutely packed with people, mostly tour groups. Still, we wrangled ourselves through the crowds to see some of the biggest sights, like the Birth of Venus, several Ducio pieces, and just so much more. Endless sculpture halls, art covering every ceiling, the views of the Ponte Vecchio as spectacular as the artwork. It's a place that requires multiple visits. We saw what we could during this one. After we left the Uffizzi (no easy task--we got lost in the labyrinth of rooms and Lucia called the museum a "prison" for the rest of the trip) we walked over the Ponte Vecchio. Another spot absolutely crushed with tour groups. I honestly can't imagine how Florence would be in the summer. On our way back to the Mercato Centrale for lunch, Lu...

First full day in Florence. We found out that Lucia got up in the middle of the night and polished off a package of prosciutto in the fridge. We started off with breakfast at I Dolci Di Patricio Cosí--coffee and pastries--and then went to another cafe, Forno Ghibellina, for a second round. We aren't wasting any opportunities for food. We really liked Forno Ghibellina; I had a cornetto with pistachio cream. Greta has been having a cappuccino each morning with her pastries. As we walked around, Lucia and Greta enjoyed finding funny/grotesque statues or artworks and photographing them, then taking an unflattering picture of one of us, then showing us both together and taunting, "Spot the difference!" They thought this was hilarious. Our morning activity was the Duomo Museum and Baptistry, which we'd reserved in advance. The museum was fantastic--beautiful art, including the Doors of Paradise and a Pieta that Michelangelo, dissatisfied, destroyed; and history about how th...