ITALY, Florence

"OH BE STILL MY BEATING HEART”

To second what Justin's mom said when we told her we would be going to Florence...."Oh be still my beating heart." Florence was my favorite part of Italy; I absolutely loved it. And given our short stay in Rome where Justin feels he didn't get to really poke around as much as he would have enjoyed, Florence was his favorite part of this trip to Italy. We arrived in Florence, Italy after a brutally early morning flight from Dublin (our wake up call was 3:30 am and as most of you know, justin and I are NOT morning people!). But it was all worth it. Florence was wonderful. I loved Florence personally. And the boutique hotel we stayed in was so charming – it was my favorite out of our entire trip (aside from the castle in Ireland) – Hotel Cellai. Although we were pretty beat from the late night and early wake up call in Dublin we had to kill one hour before we could get into our room because it was not ready so we wandered the streets of Florence with no particular destination in mind and ended up at a cafe, sat outside and ate a lunch (some yummy Macaroni Pesto – warm like macaroni & cheese but pesto instead of the cheese). Then we came back and actually napped a bit. Seems sinful doesn't it, being we were only there for 2 nights! BUT after monsterous days of walking around all over the place in Ireland and taking in the sites we so needed the rest. so, we napped for 3 hours and got up around 7pm refreshed and ready to hit the beautiful florence pavement yet again. We had dinner at outside cafe, delicious gnocci. and for any of those who have not had Italian gelato before – I swear the heavens shine down uponeth it. IT IS Glorious. So could i BE more dramatic about it? hee hee! Hazlenut flavor specifically. I had my dose of heaven almost twice a day while in Italy for the 8 nights. The next day we hit the sights & the market (shopping, yeah!). We saw beautiful squares which were homes to beautiful statues and fountains, beautiful cashmere scarves and ponchos and beautiful Italian leather purses, need I say more? It was fantastic. And to top the day off we had dinner reservations at what turned out to be the best place in all of Italy. My dish was a hand tied pasta that was stuffed with some rare Tuscan cheese and pear – it was the most delicious thing I have ever eaten for dinner! And Justin's dish was fabulous - savory hammered down so flat you'd think it was flatbread, not a chicken dish. This dinner is what i'm talking about! If only all of Italy was like that....

Please click on the orange link below to view our PHOTO SLIDESHOW of additional pics from our FLORENCE visit

www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=cce4pp5d.2tgpazet&Uy=j9pele&Ux=0&UV=610511285899_272506977605