Venice & Florence

VENICE: 

Becca, Katie and I met at the airport and began our trip to Venice! When we arrived we had such a scenic walk to our B&B as the sun was setting. We went over cute little bridges and saw the cotton-candy colored sky (my favorite). I also quickly learned that Venice is a giant maze. There are so many little streets/ally's and it is extremely confusing. Bless Becca’s soul for navigating us (the usual momma goose way). We made it to our B&B, got settled, and searched for food. At this point it was dark, making the maze-like streets even more confusing. We found a nice restaurant and I had my first plate of pasta in Italy! I had a truffled pappardelle pasta and it was great. We then walked around and found gelato. It's true, gelato in Italy is much better than in any other city! 

Gondola ride!!

The next day we woke up early and had breakfast at our B&B, which included lots of pastries, cookies, bread, and jams. Next, we went to Piazza di San Marco. On our way we walked over the famous Rialto Bridge, but it was so crowded and there were 100 men trying to sell selfie sticks (this would become a very common trend in Italy). I honestly preferred walking over the other small bridges, but I have to admit the Rialto Bridge did have some amazing views of the city. We got to Piazza di San Marco and it was huge. I was kind of just in awe looking at it all.

After some more strolling around we decided it was time for a gondola ride. Please note, I HAD BEEN WAITING FOR THIS MOMENT FOR 11 YEARS. I am happy to report that the ride lived up to my high expectations. It was so peaceful and we went down some of the cutest little canals. The weather was also perfect. The sun was shining without a cloud in the sky and I was comfortable in just a sweater. My only wish was that the ride was longer, but I was still over the moon.

The rest of the day was spent walking around the city, shopping, and admiring all of the small side streets that overlooked the canals. We stopped at a restaurant on the side of the Grand Canal and shared a bottle of wine (just to make a great day even better). Then for dinner we went to Dal Moro’s fresh pasta to go, which is the #1 restaurant on Trip Advisor (we love Trip Advisor). For just 5 euros you can get homemade pasta in a Chinese takeout box. I had the fusilli noodles in romana sauce with chicken sausage and I was in heaven.

Being in Venice was just like the movies. Even though the main areas were very touristy, going down any small street was quiet and picturesque. Venice was the perfect start to my first Italian adventure.

FLORENCE:

Garden at Hotel Mona Lisa

The next day we separated from Katie, and Becca and I left for Florence. We decided to treat ourselves and get a hotel for this city. We stayed at Hotel Mona Lisa and this hotel was incredible (especially for its low cost!). The hotel used to be a palace, so it was stunning and had this cute courtyard and beautiful garden. We were so happy to have a break from hostel life and we were living large. 

After getting settled we walked around the city. I really loved the yellow color scheme of all of the buildings and I also liked that I actually understood how to get around the streets (unlike in Venice). We first went to the Ponte Vecchio, which is the big bridge in Florence where they sell tons of gold. We then made our way to La Carraia, which quickly became our favorite gelato place. I had the chocolate mouse gelato and it was by far the best gelato I have had in my 21 years of life (we went to this gelato place a total of 3 times in our 2 days in Florence). 

Unamused at the top of the dome

Afterwards, we bought our tickets for the Duomo, which included entrance to the cathedral/crypt, the dome, the tower, and the baptistery. The ticket was valid for 24 hours so we decided to do the tower and cathedral that day, and save the rest of our ticket for Monday. We climbed 416 steps to the top of the tower and we were pooped. The views were great and it was a beautiful day, but we were tired. We kept saying, "I’m so glad that we didn't climb the tower and dome in the same day!" Then we went to the cathedral...but soon realized that we accidently went through the dome entrance and scanned our ticket. This meant that we had to climb another 500+ steps because you can only use your ticket at each attraction once. As you can imagine, we were dying. This was not our intention and we were losing our minds the whole way up. The dome was awesome and again, we had a great view of the city, but we do wish we saved it for Monday... 

The amazing gnocchi

After climbing endless stairs we needed to lie down. The only thing that got us out of bed was our excitement for dinner. We went to La Fettunta, where we had our amazing gnocchi in a tomato sauce with buffalo mozzarella and grilled vegetables (we needed some veggies for the week). We split a bottle of wine and definitively decided that Italian wine (even the cheap stuff) is much better than Spanish wine. We left so happy and topped off the night with more gelato. 

Nutella & Hazelnut gelato

The next day we finished our Duomo tickets by entering the cathedral/cryptand the baptistery. Everything was stunning, and the lines weren't too bad! We had lunch at a cafe, wandered the city, did some serious shopping (gotta love the San Lorenzo leather market), and had more gelato (Nutella and hazelnut was by far my favorite combination). We were out for quite a few hours and decided to go back to our hotel and relax in the garden. It was SO nice. For dinner we went to an amazing pizza place and split a margherita and veggie pizza. This was my first legit Italian pizza and it was the BOMB. To finish the night, we went to Hemingway cafe for dessert. We had prosecco and a slice of feta di torta pistocchi, which was basically like eating a very large truffle (SO GOOD).  

Hello, David

The next morning marked the beginning of our "art-enrichment-day". We went to the Academia in the morning and got to see my manz David. Unlike seeing the Mona Lisa in person, the David is far from underwhelming. It is so massive and impressive in person, and it was worth a trip to the museum. I liked the museum in general, but the David was by far the best part. After, we had some lunch and went back to the San Lorenzo market where I got a beautiful bag that I had my eye on the day before. I just love this bag so much :) We then went to the Uffizi museum, which was incredible. The building itself is a work of art and there is so much to see. My personal favorite was seeing the Medusa (which I like to refer to as "evil hair"). After looking at tons of art, we treated ourselves to our favorite gelato place for a final time. Then it was time to leave for Rome. 

Honestly, I loved Florence way more than I expected to and was sad to say goodbye. However, I did really fit in so many things in just 2 days and felt like I got the full Florence experience!

Ponte Vecchio & Florence