Wednesday, May 2nd
Today was one of the best days on our trip! It was beautiful, it was warm, and we had great experiences! Florence has some amazing shopping, so we kicked off the day with some light shopping 
Gucci, Guess, Zara and pretty much any store you can think of are available to you in the heart of the city.
Just down the street from our hotel is this amazing cathedral- Il Duomo or Cattedrale de Santa Maria del Fiore. This huge Gothic style church was built in 1296 and is in the center of the city. The outside is intricately designed with green, pink, and white marble- a very unique style and unlike any other building I’ve seen!
Next stop was the Ponte Vecchio Bridge, the oldest bridge in Florence. Friends and lovers sit on the walls of the bridge and the surrounding walls and enjoy each others company and eat some gelato. We were totally head over heals in love with Italy by this point! There is a certain magical ambiance that comes along with this city- the weather, people, and sites are simply beautiful…
On top of the hill overlooking Florence, is a lush green rose garden- Piazzale Michelangelo. We trekked up the hill and arrived at our destination: the highest point with the best view. It was just stunning! The view of the city took my breathe away.People sat on the grass in-between the scattered bushes and soaked up the warm sun while overlooked Florence from above. I’ll never forget that view…
Here’s me and Nicola being dorks and posing for the camera- haha!
Up just a little further was the famous statue of David (which I must say needed to be cleaned- David needed a bath! haha) I was expecting it to be a little bigger, but it was still fun to say we saw David
Tired from all our exploring, we sat on the steps overlooking the city while drinking some cold drinks and listening to a musician play a keyboard (he was really good!). I think this was my favorite part of the trip- just people watching, listening to music, and soaking in the sites.
Back in hotel room, around 8pm, there was still a warm glow of light flooding in through the open window. We freshened up and headed out – again. At this point, we were ravenous and wanted it all — so we had it all. We ordered three dishes (pizza, pasta and salad) and shared it. We paired this up with some Italian wine and just laughed and ate and had a really great time in this authentic little restaurant. Never thought in a million years that we would be in Italy have authentic Italian food!
And here we are now, back at the hotel, wishing that this day never had to end. Time for bed as we have more exploring to do tomorrow!
Con tanto affetto,
Marlena and Nicola :)
