We landed in Florence late Saturday evening and walked to our hotel from the station. We loved this hotel – the staff, the location, and the daily, yummy breakfasts were all so wonderful! After we dropped off our bags, we headed straight to dinner.
Our hotel had made reservations for us in advance but that restaurant didn’t have outdoor seating. The weather was perfect and we really wanted to sit outdoors and listen to the live music that was playing in the courtyard. We decided to stop at this hole in the wall place and enjoyed probably the best meal we had out of the whole trip!A quick picture on the infamous bridge!And then of course, more GELATO!
The next morning, we headed out to explore the city of Florence!
Really loved just walking around and enjoying the views! Pictures on the Bridge of Gold!
Jacob and I at the Santa Maria Cathedral 😍
While walking around, we stumbled upon “buchetta del vino” or a wine window! So simple and yet so fun! 😆We grab lunch at a cute little restaurant nearby the wine window and noticed a large train station/warehouse across the street. We walked over after lunch and realized it was a large food hall, how fun! We head back to the hotel to get ready for our evening activity and come across the most beautiful street art! 😍We finally arrive at our evening activity: a pasta making class! As soon as Ava found out about our trip to Italy this was her first request. We did a class by Pastamania and loved it! This is us waiting for our class to begin. Here we are ready to EAT!Our wonderful instructor!Aaliyah hard at work stuffing ravioli!
After the pasta making class, we returned to the hotel and went to bed. The next morning, we caught an EARLY train to…
Stop #3: VENICE!!!Surprise, surprise – we stopped for lunch and got more pasta and pizza!
Truth be told, by this point we were all tired and a little homesick so I feel like we didn’t enjoy Venice as much as we probably should’ve. We were the for a full day and left the following morning to return to the States. The weather was dreary and we felt like the people were warmer/friendlier in Rome and Florence BUT we loved the tiny towns connected by all those tiny bridges.
Of course, we had to take a gondola ride with the girls!
Sweet sisters! I’m so glad they’ll always have these memories! 😍
🥰😍🥹Afterwards we had some downtime, so we sat in the town square steps and people-watched for a bit! Afterwards we grabbed dinner and wrapped up our night! But of course we stopped for more gelato……on a cone…And candy!!!!The next morning, we caught the water bus to the square and caught a cab to the airport to finally head HOME! ❤️
We were all exhausted from traveling and returned home to Levi being sick with HFM! BUT I’d do it all again in a heartbeat because I am sure these are the trips that we will look back on years from now when the girls are older and be so thankful for! I am so glad we made the time to finally visit Italy as a family and hope we can all return one day with Levi! 🙏
The Curious Georges 