Florence

In planning my trip to Italy the first place that came to my mind was Florence. My cousin Millie and good friend Morgan spent semesters abroad here and My aunts, Mom and Grandmother still talk about their unbelievable trip there to visit Millie. I had only heard wonderful things and I needed to see what all the fuss was about. Therefore, from Venice we hopped on a train to Florence to get there by midafternoon just in time to be way too hot to lug suitcases. So once we checked-in to the hostel we took a breather in the dining area to check out the map and decide exactly what we wanted to do.

First things were first, food. We walked down our street looking for a substantial lunch and we decided on Cipolla Rossa. If you're ever in Florence you must eat there. To begin with we got a chickpea bruschetta that I still dream about. It could have been the poster child for cooking with simple ingredients and letting them shine without overpowering with too many sauces. For the main event I got a carbonara that will forever be known as the best carbonara I've ever eaten. The noodles were cooked to perfection and the sauce had just the right amount of everything. I would spend money I don't have right now to go back there if only to eat that dish again. 

Here I am with, arguably, the most delicious plate of pasta to ever be served in Italy. 

Duomo

From lunch we put our headphones in and took a walking tour with Rick. We started outside of the duomo and ended at the ponte vecchio. We stopped and rested for about 30 minutes to watch a mime mimic tourists as they walked past. We eventually made it all the way to the end of the tour, and got lost on our way back to the hostel. Once there we got showered and went out to find a dinner to rival lunch, it was a close second, we got our nightly gelato and sat with it watching the tourists and natives going about their lives.  

Kristy and I overlooking the Arno River

Ponte Vecchio

The next morning we found an amazing market that resembles the Sweet Auburn Market in Atlanta. There we got some fruit and other picnic materials for our lunch in the Boboli gardens behind of the Pitti Palace.

Our feast!

Part of the Boboli Gardens

 After our picnic and an extensive stroll through the gardens we walked on over to the piazza michelangelo where the views are fantastic, we stopped and rested on the serious walk up, it's quite a hike. On our way back down we got another gelato and sat on a bench on the river. It was great.

Piazza Michelangelo, and a good display of our moods at that point.

"Homemade pasta with basil, almonds, and tomatoes"

 For dinner that night we went back to Cipolla Rossi where we got yet another delicious meal followed by free port from the adorable Italian waiters. Port and cute Italians, what else could a girl want? After that we got another gelato watched the world go by and went to bed to catch an early train to Cinque Terre in the morning.