My Incredible Tuscan Birthday

Night 1

We arrived in beautiful Florence around 6pm having really enjoyed the Tuscan views on our train ride....vineyards, lush, green fields, beautiful cottages and villas.  We met a really nice couple from Dallas on the train and talked the entire time.

We found Ciao Hostel pretty close to the train station and got settled in.  We stayed in a 4 bed room, but only had one roommate, a really nice guy from South Africa.  We headed out to explore and found the best little cafe on a street full of Tuscan restaurants.  I ordered the best lasagna I've ever eaten in my life and even the house wine was amazing, contrary to what we found in Rome.  After dinner we wandered a bit and found some seats at a beautiful lawn in front of Basilica di Santa Maria Novella.  There were lots of other couples sitting around enjoying the lovely night with a majestic view. 

We headed back to our hostel and struck up a conversation with our hostelmate.  He very excitedly pulled out a bottle of cherry cordial he bought in Poland and wanted us to share.  It was so strong, but pretty tasty.  I only had a couple of sips, but our roommate drank like 2/3 of the bottle!  I don't know how he was standing!  We had some really interesting conversations about politics, travel, cultures, etc.  Then our neighbors knocked on the door and we thought we were being too loud, but instead they were inviting us to their "party" in the kitchen.  We ended up staying up until 2am!

Day 2

I was happily awakened to a sweet "Happy Birthday" from D.  We quickly got ready and headed to Mercato Centrale, the coolest market we'd been to.  It was rows and rows of leather, scarves, ceramics, jewelry.  I, of course, loved it and bought an amazing leather jacket for my birthday.  Thanks Mom and Dad!

We had a delicious lunch at this tiny little shop near the market.  We each ordered paninis which were made behind the counter for us by the 2 workers at the shop.  I ordered the gorgonzola, pear and nut and D ordered the spicy salami with pecorino cheese.  While we waited we each ordered a crostini.  I'm going to try to make the one I got because it was incredible, ricotta and pumpkin cream.  Yum!

After some souvenir shopping we headed to Il Duomo.  It wasn't as extravagant on the inside as the outside.  The architectural design, patterns of color, and stained glass windows were amazing from the outside.  We did 2 laps around...not actually on purpose.  I was trying to get us to the bell tower and misread the signs.  We climbed up the hundreds of steps of Giotto's Bell Tower for an amazing view of Florence and beyond.  It was so cool to see the Tuscan villas on the mountains in the background.  What a great birthday experience!

We made the long way down from the tower, much easier than going up, and headed to the Galleria dell' Academia to see Michelangelo's David.  Wow!  It was so much larger than I expected, and the detail was amazing.  I don't know how you can carve stone into a piece so huge, making everything proportional and so anatomically correct down to the veins in his hands and the curves of his ears.  Worth the 30 minute line, for sure.

We stopped in the Basilica Santa Maria Novella on the way back to the hostel.  It's a beautiful church inside and out.  We both took a short nap when we got back to the hostel and took our time getting ready for the birthday celebrations to come, drinking some wine while we got ready. 

First, we headed towards Ponte Vecchino, the Old Bridge.  I was expecting a regular bridge across the water, but this bridge was full of shops from one side of the bank to the other with some arches in between showing off the beautiful view mid-bridge.  The sunset created the most beautiful sky, the musicians were playing romantic music, I was with my fiancé and it was my birthday.  I just couldn't help but tear up!  Incredible!

We headed to the Piazzale Michaelangelo next.  Such a cool walk up the hill, then wow!  Another beautiful view of the city.  We picked a seat on the steps overlooking the city and drank our wine along with everyone else on the steps.  We ate our delicious snack we found at a grocery store, bits of cheese topped with spices and bell pepper.  It even came with little toothpicks!  We sat relaxed and happy for a long time, then realized it was getting late and we needed to head to get dinner.

Our receptionist had recommended a restaurant but didn't remember the name of it.  She showed us where on the map and said it had a small door and pictures of famous people on the walls.  She was so passionate about the amazing atmosphere and food, I wanted to try to find it.  After winding the road down from Piazzale Michaelangelo we actually found the restaurant!  We found out we had to have a reservation, so we scheduled ours for 30 minutes later at 10:30.  While we waited we went to have wine and bruschetta at another cafe.

At 10:30 we headed under the arch out of the neighboring plaza back to our restaurant.  Wow!  The best meal and dining experience I've ever had!  The restaurant was candle and twinkle lights lit, narrow and intimate.  I expected the pictures of famous people to be of famous Italians; however they were all of famous Americans...Brad Pitt, Chevy Chase, John Travolta, and so many more.  Apparently this was THE place in Florence to eat.  In all of the pictures there was a man who we had also seen walking around the restaurant.  He was very eclectic with bracelets all the way up his arms and a crazy outfit.  We found out from our waiter he was the current owner, son of the original owner. 

Our waiter brought us champagne on the house and an antipasto platter.  He recommended the pear ravioli which I fell in love with.  D ordered the recommended truffle angel hair pasta, buttery deliciousness.  Oh so good!  We had a bottle of the house white wine and were just finishing it off when our waiter and the owner came over with a huge chocolate cake with birthday candles!  I was so surprised!  They didn't know the birthday song, so D sang it from start to finish all by himself with the owner pitching in a word here and there.  What an amazing night!  I don't imagine I could ever have a better birthday!

 

Day 3

Sadly, it was time to leave Florence and head to the last city on our trip, Dublin.  Since we had to fly, we had to take a train back to Rome to get to Ciampino airport.  From the Termini bus station we had to find a way to Ciampino.  We stopped a police officer to ask where to buy a bus ticket.  He told us the newspaper stand.  The newspaper stand told us the tobacco shop next door.  The tobacco shop told us the newspaper stand.  Ok, thanks for the help!

At another newspaper stand we were told to go to platform 1.  At the platform we walked into an office along the end of the building.  They told us to go next door.  Next door was a cafe, so we skipped that door and went to the next where we overheard someone telling a group of guys also to go next door.  So back to the cafe.  The lady behind the counter pointed us to a desk where we finally found the help we needed!  We bought tickets for the shuttle, and sat down for the 40 minute wait, so happy to put our bags down!  Everything is so much more difficult when you don't speak the language!

D went out to get a doner kebab and I ordered some pasta...we were back in Rome, so it wasn't the best.  While D was gone a little Italian nun took his seat.  How can you say no to a nun?!  She also cut to the front of the line once the bus got there.  Funny little lady.

We made it to Ciampino airport about 2 hours before our flight.  We got in the check-in line and waited for 30 minutes only to find out, along with half of the line, that we were in the wrong room/line for Dublin or London check-in.  So we all rushed to the other room to find we had an even longer line to wait in there.  At this point we had about 45 minutes to check-in and get to the gate.  We started to get nervous.  "We cannot miss another flight!"

The boarding time got closer and closer and people kept cutting in line.  Finally we made it to the desk about 5 minutes before boarding time slightly relieved.  Then we saw the security line!  Oh no!  I asked if there was any way to bypass the line since we were about to board.  Apparently there was a fast lane, but you could only use it once your flight actually started boarding...so that then you could run to your gate.  Geez!  So much disorganization.  We made it to the gate, waited in another line, got on a bus to get to our plane, then finally relaxed once we got in our seats. 

I highly recommend only taking trains between countries.  It is so difficult to fly.  They make you check in online to print your own boarding pass but also require you to check in at the desk at the airport.  It may be cheaper to fly, but definitely not worth the stress. 

Anyway, we made it to Dublin! 

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