A Night in Firenze

Takin it to the next level with the Selfie Stick

Last week D had a very rare two days off so we decided to take an overnight trip to Florence. Italy was one of the first countries I visited abroad, when a girlfriend and I went days after graduating high school, and Florence really stuck out to me as my favorite Italian city we went to. I was pretty excited to get back there with D who had never been.

Now, as much as I'm a dog lover fanatic, I'm not the type to take my dog on vacation.. or to the grocery store..  or the mall, etc. But here, we don't really have the luxury of leaving Tucker with friends or family for a night, so wherever we go, he goes as well! Tucker lives quite the life. He's lived on three continents and six countries in his short seven year lifespan. Most people would kill for this dog's life.

He's kind of a rockstar...

Florence was just as beautiful as I remembered, but absolutely flooded with tourists (as is Venice this time of year). There are so many study abroad programs in the city, that I'm sure the comfortability of hearing English everywhere is what attracted me so much to Florence on my first trip here. Now, after living overseas for a few years, I'm more used to not understanding the language, and it I actually prefer places with less expat crowds.

I'll take one of everything

We hiked to the top of the Palazzo Michelangelo for the most amazing view of the city. My approach to getting D to hike/do anything remotely active on his day off is to keep him completely in the dark about whatever plan I have. Once he finally caught on that we'd been steadily going uphill for a few minutes, I promised him a beer at the top and he took one for the team. The view was absolutely worth it.

View from the top!

For dinner, we went to this really authentic Italian place my cousins had suggested. They only offer two seatings a night and it's so packed that you're practically giving a lap dance to the people next to you. I could see this working out fabulously if you had a social pair of guests on either side to enhance the already awesome, all-you-can-drink deal with. Unfortunately, we were stuck next two a couple that appeared to be on a blind date and would rather hang buy their toenails than utter a word to one another. Regardless, it was a really neat experience and I ate far more than I want to ever think about again.

Ponte Vecchio

Perhaps the highlight of our trip was this amazing hole-in-the-wall sandwich shop we found on TripAdvisor. The place is literally he size of a master bathroom and consistently has a line out the door at any hour of the day. We had the most incredible sandwich of prosciutto, tomatoes, fresh mozzarella,  oil and vinegar and some sort of truffle spread. It was one of those life-changing meals that I think I'll crave for the rest of my physical existence.

so much yes.

Our trip was too short (as always), and I'm anxious to get back to Florence again sometime while we're here. I feel so lucky that we can just hop in the car/train and travel to all these incredible cities. D was gone this weekend for an away game and I seized the opportunity to go walk around Venice by myself (will tell ya all about it on the next blog post). I really have to pinch myself that I live in such a beautiful place and I can't wait to discover more about it. Until then, I'll continue to post about my whereabouts and hopefully take enough beautiful pictures to convince you all to come pay me a visit! XOXO

Is it me or does coffee just taste better out of a Gucci mug..?

Tucker admiring one of Michelangelo's finest works