As soon as I got back from Perugia last weekend I had my parents in Florence waiting for me! Luckily they had made it first class from Salt Lake over here and we had the whole week together!
Saturday night we went to a wonderful dinner at Aqua al Duo where they brought us sampler plates of about 6 different kinds of pasta, three different steaks in amazing sauces, and mom had chicken in the best port sauce ever!
Sunday we climbed up to San Minaota and over looked Florence on a beautiful day. We saw the Plaza Michelangelo, found a big grocery store(Conad) and saw my school and the Duomo. My parents moved from their hotel into an apartment across the river which is possible the cutest apartment I have ever seen. There was a little blue and yellow kitchen equipped with brand new pots and pans, a couch which turned into my bed for the week, a big bedroom with glass doors and windows which provided beautiful views of San Spirito and the Piti Palace. I semi-moved in with them for the week, allowing us to have breakfast and dinner together every day, go for family gelato walks to my favorite place, and in the morning I would leave them and walk across the Ponte Vecchio to school, just like if we all lived here!
Over the course of the week I got to show mom the Boboli gardens, we conquered the Uffizi and did manage to survive the three hours it took my dad to see everything, and thoroughly explored Florence. I was so happy to be able to show them the central market and my favorite cappachino place ( which we stopped at often).
To show them how much of an Italian I have become, one night Sara Abad and I made homemade spaghetti sauce one night with Tuscan sausage, all fresh from the market. Complete with backed apples and Nutella...how much more of an Italian experience can you hope to get?
Wednesday we attempted to go to Luca, and when we showed up at the train station, all the Luca trains were running about an hour and a half late. As we stood there and watched the board they kept on showing their arrival become later and later and finally showed that there departure from Florence was cancelled! We could not figure out if they were just stopped on the track somewhere or what! So Luca got scrapped and we ended up having a Medici themed day, seeing their church and library.
Overall it was probably the best week I have had here! I got to see so much and it was so fun showing off my city to my parents...and they were somehow impressed with my Italian, probably only because I can speak five words of it and they can only speak one...but hey I will take what I can get!
Mom here and it WAS a fantastic week. I liked our family dynamic of waking up, having coffee and "Nice Morning" cereal. Then you going off to class while we explored the big Florence sights until you came home to show us the sights that were special and off the beaten track. I could have stayed there for a year! (except that washing clothes in that tiny washer and drying them over the rack took an entire day).
ReplyDeleteYou have certainly become very chic and cultured with your tucked in jeans, high boots, classy scarf and your friendly "Ciao" to all the vendors you know. And now that I'm home, I'm determined to create that port wine sauce and the Fagiola soup that we had.
We had a fabulous, wonderful time seeing you and exploring the city with you. And I loved sitting in the Boboli Gardens, by the fountain, and reading our paperbacks while dad looked at MORE art. You were the perfect distraction for me. And people watching in the Ufizzi was fun too. Wonder what chub chub girl is doing right now? And double denim lady.
Thanks for being the perfect hostess. The espresso and chocolate on your terrace was a hit. Are you going to write about Bellagio separately since that was a big favorite of all of ours? When are we moving there!???