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Florence, Italy: August 27, 2013
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After two years away from Europe, I started to get the travel itch. Earlier this year, Alyssa and I, on a whim, decided to join our cousin and her family and friends for a short Italian get away.
Traveling from San Diego to Philadelphia to Brussels ended up being a very tiring travel day. After a brief layover in Brussels, in which we went through customs, we then took a small plane to Florence. The plane oddly reminded me of the movie Argo, because we needed to take a bus to take to the airstrip where the plane was sitting.
After about 20 hours in air travel, Alyssa and I finally arrived to our destination: Florence! The last time we had visited was in 2005, for only a few hours. The year before that, we had a day to spend in this beautiful city but that was not enough time either. This year, we would get 4 nights in this magical city.
From the airport, a 20 euro taxi cab ride drove up to the most beautiful villa I had ever seen: Villa Tolomei. Located high up on a hill away from the city life, the grounds were gorgeous. I checked us into our room and inquired about the easiest way to get to the city. The front desk lady said there was a taxi stand down the hill (along a street with no sidewalks). “Um, ok….” was my first thought. That would not be a fun trek at night!
A good-looking bellhop grabbed our suitcases (bluest eyes EVER) and walked us towards our room. He didn’t speak one word of English, but tried to show us where the swimming pool and gym was with arm signals. It was the cutest thing ever! Our room was so spacious and gorgeous! The window overlooked the front of the hotel, with views of the surrounding hills. The bed was humongous, and we even had a closet/changing room so that our suitcases wouldn’t be in the way.
Usually after traveling all day, I like to take a nap to recover. However, it was only about 1 pm in the afternoon and I didn’t want to waste my time sleeping. Alyssa and I got ready, freshened up, and went to the front desk to ask about the taxi situation again. It was a new concierge and he told us he orders the cabs for us. Hallelujah!
Our first stop was the duomo for some gelato. We meandered through the different alleys and streets and just soaked in the sights along the Arno river.
Next, we had reserved vouchers for the Uffizi gallery, which was a huge time saver because of the ridiculously long lines. The Uffizi was massive, but the highlight of my visit was of course the “Birth of Venus” painting by Botticelli. The painting took up almost the entire wall and was breathtaking.
We spent about an hour in the Uffizi, then decided to head to the restaurant where Alyssa had made reservations. She initially made the reservations for 7:00 pm, but we were both so tired from our long day that we decided to go an hour early. The restaurant was called Golden View Open Bar and it was located right on the Arno river with a view of the Ponte Vecchio. We split a bottle of the local Tuscan wine and I ordered the ravioli with a truffle cream sauce; so yummy!
After dinner, we went to another gelateria for a second gelato of the day. As I ate my gelato and watched my first Firenze sunset of my trip, I couldn’t help but feel so grateful for the opportunity to be in this magnificent city again.
