Florence

This was my third trip to Florence and Nate's first. I was excited to show Nate the city I already knew and loved so much after visiting with my family in college, then studying abroad for 5 weeks there the summer before I graduated.

Our hotel in Florence was outside the city but only a 20 minute bus ride away from downtown. It was late when we got in so we went to sleep and work up early the next morning and headed straight to my favorite gelato place. It was as good as I'd remembered, maybe even better. When in Italy, gelato becomes part of the daily routine, and on a good day, you get it twice! If you go to Florence and do nothing else, go to La Carraia Gelateria just across the river. You will leave a changed person.

We browsed the leather market, and in an odd way, I felt totally at home. I'd hyped up Florence, especially coming from Munich which wasn't our favorite city, and wanted Nate to fall in love with the city as much as I had.

After gelato, we ate lunch at a pizzeria that I'd remembered from studying abroad. We probably sat for two hours working on two pizzas - paper-thin, but massive in diameter, lightly covered in perfectly simply tomato sauce, the truest mozzarella, and drizzled in olive oil and basil. I often say, all it takes to run a successful eatery is good simple food - nothing too complicated, no big menu. Just do one thing, do it simple, and do it right and you are bound to succeed (ie. In and Out). It makes me appreciate simplicity. Simple recipes, simple flavors, classic food. It just doesn't get any better.

We were entertained by a film shoot going on on the other side of the square. They were filming what appeared to be an Italian mafia scene where an actor shot a fake machine gun out a window into the square.

One day we went wine tasting in Greve in Chianti. We researched wine tasting outside of Florence but everything was either way too expensive or required a private car so we took a bus about 40 minutes away to a little wine tasting room in a little town outside Florence that my friend and I had discovered three years earlier when we studied abroad.

If you're ever in Florence, this place is a gem. Our tickets cost maybe 3 euro each way, we spent around 18 euro on tasting, which occupied the entire day. Before wine tasting we got lunch, and obviously what I got wasn't memorable because I can't remember it, but Nate got pasta with red pepper flakes and garlic. It sounded really weird to me, but was surprisingly delicious.

We saw signs for a wholesale leather factory on a map by the bus stop and wandered around past dark trying to find it. The homes in the little town are some of the most picturesque I've ever seem. I dreamed of moving here, living simply, and making homemade pasta every day. I think I'd die happy. We finally found the "leather factory" where a woman lead us up an empty office building to a room full of really expensive purses and watched as we shopped. It was weird. We didn't buy anything. We then waited for the bus back to Florence for about 45 minutes, in which time, 2 buses were supposed to have showed up.  Finally a bus comes barreling down the two lane road at what felt like 60 miles per hour. In Florence, you flag down the bus, but if you flag down a taxi it won't stop. Very odd, I know. The four of us at the bus stop when running and flailing our arms like crazy people after the bus which politely came to a screeching halt a block or so after the stop. We passed out on the bus ride home, and promptly ate gelato upon returning to the city. It was such a good day.

The other days spent in Florence were a blur of pasta, gelato, panninis, biscotti, and pizza. We discovered late in the trip that lunches were better, cheaper and more vegetarian. And like every other place in the world - dinner was all about the meat - Florentine Steak to be exact. I'd hyped the food up a lot because in my "college-aged-all-I-know-how-to-cook-is-grilled-cheese-mind" every meal was mind blowing. This time, I think both my standards and expectations had been raised a bit.

Okay so we did some other things too. I decided the one thing I wanted to take home from this vacation was an Italian pasta bowl. I wanted something just as hand-crafted, special, and full of love as my homemade pasta itself. We went to a beautiful little shop called Lorenzaccio where my mom and I had been years earlier as per the recommendation from a family friend. At the time I was more concerned with being 19 than with serveware, but times have changed and I'd been dreaming of this bowl for weeks. Oddly everything was five times as expensive as I'd remembered. Funny how that happens. I ended up getting an advance on my Christmas present for the year and left with the prettiest pasta bowl I ever did see and a pitcher to match. It's probably the most special thing I own now.

It was rough choosing

I will return for you, plate!!! 

From a food perspective, the Mercado Centrale was a dream. I'd been before but appreciated it so much more this time. We bought truffle dip, sun-dried tomatoes, and cookies. And I watched them make fresh pasta in a little factory surrounded by glass walls for a good 30 minutes. I adore everything about home made pasta. A pasta making class was what first really got me going onto this food obsession and the process will always hold a special place in my heart.

Nothing supports my vegetarianism like animal testicles. Only 3 euro each. 

So I finally got a picture of the prosciutto calf 

"Head Cheese" in the flesh

I'd heard about the Gregorian Monk chants but never had a chance to go the summer I spent here. This time I did my research, and one afternoon we made the trek to San Miniato. It's a little church on top of a massive hill towards the outskirts of the city. It took up maybe 45 minutes, but the walk was beautiful. On top of the giant hill you can see all of Florence, it's so quiet and beautiful. Unfortunately the monks never chanted. I don't why. According to all my research we arrived at the correct time, and walk around the church and grounds for two hours. I'm learning, Italy doesn't operate on much of a schedule. They do what they want. And I'm okay with that.

Husband Scarf

Another day we went to Cinque Terre, which translates to "the five lands". It's a couple hours and a couple trains outside of Florence but completely worth the trip. It's made up of five old fishing towns, that although a bit touristy now, take you back in time. I'm not sure these towns would exist in modern age without tourism. They are completely remote and completely beautiful.


I knew the first time I hiked these towns with a group of college students that I needed to come back one day with Nate. The fact that I actually did makes me feel like anything is possible. There is a train that goes from town to town every 30 minutes or so, but the best way is to hike along the coast. It is the most beautiful hiking I have ever done. And probably some of the most beautiful in the world. Unfortunately, since the last time I'd visited trails between a lot of the cities have been permanently closed due to injuries from mudslides. So we ended up hiking from the fourth to fifth city, Vernazza to Monterosso.

Hot calves! Forgot running shoes... 

When we arrived in Monterosso, we felt like we'd traveled back in time. When arrived after sunset, and the town was literally glowing. The streets came alive with families going out for the evening, and much like Saltzberg, not a soul spoke English. I had a bit of a panic attack looking for a bathroom, a nearly impossible task with the language barrier.

That night we splurged a bit and ate at most of the most beautiful restaurants atop a cliff overlooking the ocean  I had some kind of butternut squash lasagna which was probably the best meal I had that trip (if you don't count the 1000 macarons I ate in Paris...coming soon!). Everything about that dinner was lovely. I felt so far from our life, we were on a vacation from our vacation. I felt like I'd lost a sense of who I was in the best possible way. Travel does that. I think it's really an opportunity to step outside our life and into someone else's home/culture/way of living. It brings perspective and teaches us we are not what we do everyday. I think hopefully it broadens our sense of self. At least that's what it did to me.

After dinner, we headed to the train station to catch the very last train to Florence that night when, uh oh, it was delayed, which meant we'd miss our connection and have to take a bus from Pisa instead of a train wouldn't get in until 5am. At least we were together? We met some kids from India studying fashion design in Milan (what a life?!). Just when we'd accepted our fate the train in Pisa renewed my faith in Italian transit because they waited for our connecting train and we were back in Florence within an hour.

We spent our last evening in Florence stocking up on Chianti for the train ride, eating our last gelatos, and finally getting up the courage to negotiate for that Italian leather purse I had my eye on all week. All were successful. We decided after too many almost missed trains/planes/buses already this trip that we should probably leave for the train station early. We did, and good thing because we went to the wrong one! Who knew Florence had two train stations? Not us! Good thing the right train station was only 5 minutes and a couple euro away. Traveling is not for the weak. This was my mantra as we lugged our bags for what felt like the millionth time onto city number five. As exhausted as we were somehow I knew we had saved the best for last - Paris!