Arrivederci, Florence

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We’ll miss Florence’s sense of humor, and searching for these creative No Entry signs all over town. There are more than 40 different creative designs, and this past weekend we discovered a shop where you can buy them as stickers!

Our suitcases are packed, we’ve finished up all the food in the refrigerator, and tomorrow morning we will turn over the keys to our wonderful apartment and walk over to the train station to depart for Rome. When we arrived in Florence a month ago it was fall, with the leaves just beginning to turn, and we barely needed a sweater, but the weather now is cold, the leaves are gone, and we bundle up every time we leave the house.

Our month here has proved to be everything we hoped for and more. We’ve seen and done almost everything on our list, made some discoveries, and we ended our stay on a high note, with a wonderful day trip out to Siena last week, and a fun, informative and absolutely delicious pizza class on Sunday evening. Best of all, in spite of all the things we’ve seen, done and eaten we’ve stayed under-budget for our time here, with a daily average of $46.85.

Here are some of the things we’ve seen and done in Florence this past month:

• Walked all over the city, and through its enchanting streets and alleyways. We loved hearing the various church bells ring every day.
• Visited the Uffizi, Accademia, Palazzo Pitti, and Bargello museums and viewed an amazing amount of beautiful art.
• Viewed the Brancacci Chapel frescoes.
• Visited Santa Croce, Spirito Santo and the Florence Duomo. Brett climbed to the top of the Brunelleschi dome at the Duomo while I toured the Interior.
• Walked through the Mercado Centrale and enjoyed a roast beef sandwich at da Nerbone.
• Enjoyed gelato in a variety of flavors every day (I think we might have missed one day).
• Drank some great Tuscan wines (both red and white) as well as some tasty limoncello.
• Took a day trip to Siena where we walked through the city, toured the Siena Duomo, and enjoyed a wonderful four-course traditional Tuscan meal.
• Took an overnight trip to the Cinque Terre and ate delicious Ligurian cuisine in Riomaggiore.
• Learned to make authentic Napoli-style pizza and ate a couple of good pizzas out in town as well.
• Bought beautiful leather gloves at Madova, a stovetop espresso maker in my favorite color, and a marbled paper phone case.
• And, we’re finishing our stay tonight with bistecca fiorentina at Trattoria I’raddy, located just around the corner and recommended by our host.

We’ve also been able to rest and relax as needed, and bought ourselves some souvenirs. We’ve never felt like our time here was speeding by, nor that it was dragging either – the pace has been perfect. The only thing we especially wanted to do that didn’t happen was a visit to the Piazzale Michelangelo. We had wanted to do it this past week, but time and weather have not cooperated.

However, all good things must come to an end, and it’s time for the Occasional Nomads to move on to our next destination: the Eternal City of Rome. Our stay there will be short compared to our time here, just seven nights, and I think we’re going to probably feel a bit rushed after the luxury of time we’ve enjoyed in Florence. We’ve already booked a small-group tour through the Colosseum, the Forum and Palantine Hill, but other than enjoying a special dinner out for Thanksgiving the only “must do’s” are walks through a couple of neighborhoods (i.e. Trastavere) and a visit to the Vatican and its museums and cathedral.

Grazie mille, Flrenze, for a fabulous time and more memories than we can count.