We're finally here!

Saluti da l’Italia!!!! After a grueling 30 hour trip to Milano, we’re finally on vacation. As suspected, one hour wasn’t enough time to make the connection from London to Milano, so we ended up with a 6 hour layover at Heathrow. Part of the delay involved the plane being boarded by three armed police officers who escorted off some young, real clean-cut looking guy. We don’t know what for, all we know is that he caused us to miss the connecting flight. The upside is that we flew over the Alps at sunset – wow, what a view of some incredibly beautiful mountains. One of the airlines – either British Airways or Alitalia – damaged Rachel’s suitcase to the point where the pull up handle doesn’t work. So we limped the suitcase and ourselves out of the airport and into a hotel in Milano, finally getting to sleep at midnight

Today we drove to Firenze where the weather is hot and humid. We walked around the city and did some window shopping on Ponte Vecchio – the old bridge that crosses the Arno River. It has the notoriety of being the only bridge in Firenze that wasn’t bombed by the Germans in WWII, I believe because of its historical significance. It’s lined with jewelry stores – lots and lots of gold, which is really pricey. Firenze is known for its leather, and Rachel splurged on a beautiful lambskin jacket. We ate dinner on the patio of a quaint trattoria in Piazza della Signoria, which is right next to the Uffizi art museum. We had the most delicious bruschetta I’ve ever eaten – can’t even explain how wonderful it was. Unfortunately, the pizzas weren’t that tasty. We made up for that though by having our our first gelato of the summer, a delicious scoop of coconut and one of amarena (cherry). It was definitely worth the 3 year wait. Tomorrow we’ll be visiting the Duomo and the Pitti Palace in Firenze. Next day, we’re off to Siena, San Grimigiano, and then Lucca.

The only way I can think to end this post is to say…..it’s so good to back in Italia.