Piazzale Michelangelo, Florence, Italy

-

I went for a walk/jog this morning.  I walked toward the Abbazia di San Miniato al Monte, a monastery about 30 minutes from my sister's house. I then ran over to Piazzale Michelangelo, the famous lookout over Florence. There is a replica of the statue of The David and great views of the city below. I don't think we've gone anywhere in this city that hasn't been beautiful or artsy or full of character...or tasty. We have really enjoyed our stay here and have really been able to take in the culture, the food, the traditions, the way of life and of course, the concept of an aperitivo.

An aperitivo is basically a light snack of meat, cheese, a glass of wine or Prosecco  (an Italian white wine)...or in my case, an espresso then a glass of Prosecco along with a sweet of some sort. It is usually eaten between lunch and dinner. Of course Italians eat lunch and dinner about two hours later than Americans do. So an aperitivo is usually around 5 pm with dinner at 8 pm. Italians go to bed after 11 pm.  My sister joked that we've taken the concept to a whole new level.  Curtis called it an a-party-tivo. We got a good laugh out of it! But it sure has been really fun to spend time with my sister and brother in law in this fantastic city! 


The church of St. Croce, below,  where famous people are buried. 

The Duomo and the government building called the Palazzo Vecchio that means old palace. 

This bridge is very famous called the Ponte Vecchio. It is pedestrian only and is a tourist and shopping area.

The statue of The David by Michelangelo. This is actually a replica. The original is in a museum.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 13: Vow renewal and adventure photography

-
Image
The reason for this vacation is to celebrate our 20 years together.  I hired an adventure photographer before we left to take some pictures of us because we haven't had professional pictures made since our wedding.  I just wanted to have fun and I didn't want it to be a traditional vow renewal.  So Curtis and I made a list of promises on the things that we might improve upon in our relationship.  For example, Curtis promised to finish home improvement projects in a year.  I promised to try to clean up my computer files and not leave my hair bands all over the house. We probably should have thought about our promises more because Curtis has already asked John for a few addendums. Our friends, Trish and John, came to help us with our vow renewal.  We really appreciated them flying all the way to Glacier to help us celebrate.  Those are the kind of friends you keep for life. Trish made John read a wonderful verse from Proverbs at the end...to make it official. John was our o
Read more

The Badlands of South Dakota

-
Image
We drove to Badlands National Park today. I wasn't sure what to expect.  I heard of them and saw pictures online, but what I found was really surprising. We stopped at the first boardwalk to go exploring. One of the first things I noticed was how straight the sedimentary layers are and all of the beautiful colors!  And the wind! It was so windy that it wears you out! We went into the canyon and started exploring. We had so much fun wandering through the rocks to see how the water has carved them into their shapes. It seemed to go on forever!  I texted my boys that it was an awesome place to play hide and seek!   Curtis and I really enjoyed each other's company. This is our first real vacation by ourselves. ..no kids to worry about...just each other. He kept shaking his head at me (every now and then I'd hear him mutter "Woman!") because I kept wandering off and climbing around. I had a blast!  A part of me wished my boys were there. 
Read more

Day 15: Remington Carriage Museum & Many Glacier

-
Image
We enjoyed a nice breakfast in the hotel restaurant before we set off for the day.  A nice older couple sat down at a table next to us and we found out they were from Dothan, Alabama!  They told us about all of the changes the hotel had made since they visited last.  Poor Curtis was the only Alabama fan in the mix.  The rest of us were Auburn fans, so we gave them a nice War Eagle before we said good-bye. We headed to the Remington Carriage Museum in Cardston, Alberta first.  The museum was started by Donald Remington with an agreement with the Alberta government that he would donate his collection of carriages if they promised to open a museum.  The government agreed and expanded the museum, gathering more carriages and restoring them.  The museum currently has over 300 restored carriages from all of the different time periods.  Curtis and I stopped by the restoration workshop and spoke to some of the volunteers.  They told us that they try to use modern equipment whil
Read more