European Vacation (Florence)

We left Venice on Tuesday morning and found our way to Firenze. We parked the car, got checked into our hotel and took the tram to the old town. 

The concierge at the hotel had told us of a great place to eat lunch right in the old town where all the "locals" eat, so that was our first stop.

Oh my goodness, our first taste of Tuscan cuisine was delicious.

Fresh mozarella, tomato, basil pizza

(I look like a cheese ball)

and gnocchi

 

Florence is also an amazingly beautiful place. After lunch, we walked to the Duomo and it looked fake because it was so incredibly beautiful.

Florence is the birthplace of the Renaissance

It was so interesting reading our Rick Steve's guidebook and learning of all the great artists, explorers, philosophers and writers from Florence.

So much history was made right where we were standing.

 

We took Rick Steve's Renaissance walking tour complete with audio 

(I had downloaded some podcasts on my iPad)

 

and then walked to the Ponte Vecchio

Devin had told us of the great views on the hill above the city so we hiked up the hill and it was definitely worth the hike.

Pretty artsy shot, she looks like a movie starlet!

We walked back down the hill 

and saw this big screen set up right along the river to show 

the World Cup Soccer matches. 

 

After all our walking we were starving and we found a great Tuscan restaurant that wasn't too expensive.

Tom looks pretty happy with his bruschetta.

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We wandered around the old town and found an organ recital in one of the cathedrals. We stopped and went inside to listen.

It was so beautiful hearing that grand organ playing Bach.

It gave me chills and is a memory I won't soon forget.

We walked back to the tram and found our way back to our hotel.

The next morning we got up early because I had reserved a ticket for us to see  "The David" by Michel Angelo. Ever since I took Humanities at BYU I've wanted to see "The David".  

 

It was so worth the years of waiting.

What a masterpiece

 

We were walking around the statue with our BYU backpack and someone said,

"Hey, BYU, are you from Utah?"  We got talking to the guy and found out he was originally from Caldwell and is our neighbor, 

Brent Carr's younger brother, Mark.

What a small world.

Mark was in Florence with his three daughters and he invited us to dinner later that night.

 

One of  Michel Angelo's "Prisoners"

After we toured the Academia, we walked back to the Duomo and decided to climb to the top of the bell tower to get some great views of the city.

It was quite a climb, but worth every stair.

Only half-way up

We also went inside the Baptistry

This is a beautiful gold tile mosaic on the ceiling 

telling the story of Judement Day.

We walked back to the marketplace for lunch and did some shopping.

Then wandered around the city

We met our friends for dinner at 7:30 and had an 

amazing Tuscan feast at the restaurant "Il Profeta"

Our new friend, Mark, has traveled extensively in Italy and owns a business outside of Florence so was very familiar with this restaurant.

He kept ordering delicious things from the menu that he wanted us to try.

Bruschetta, grilled vegetables, a pasta special called "The John Travolta" (supposedly it was named after John Travolta because he ordered it and liked it so much he licked the plate clean), lemonada, tiramisu, and a chocolate dessert called simply enough "Death by Chocolate".

Oh my, the food was amazing.

When it came time for the bill, Tom reached for his credit card willing to split the bill, but Marko kindly picked up the tab for the meal which cost over $400 US.

We won't soon forget our delicious Tuscan feast nor our time in Firenze!