Florence - Love at first Sight

Our next adventure began with a train trip from Venice to Florence - home of the Renaissance , one of the wealthiest cities of Medieval Europe and home to the Medici Family.  If you haven't watched the Netflix series about the Medici I highly recommend it.  Florence came to life for us as we wandered over bridges and through squares with little bits of the Medici Family everywhere.

Our Windows on Italy - Raffaello apartment exceeded all our expectations.  It is located in the Oltarno district which is famous for it's craftsmen, restaurants and a buzz of activity filled with tourists but also lots of locals.  Another great advantage to our apartment it was easy to find :) which is important with all the alleys and lanes.  50 yards from our door was a gelato store and another 50 yards was the Ponte alla Carraia (first built in the 1200s).  Finding our way home became very easy as you walked to the River Arno, 2 bridges west of Pont Vecchio (the covered bridge) was our bridge and home for the next week.

 Time to start wandering.  Florence famous for its merchant trade hasn't changed much, shops everywhere, very expensive shops everywhere.  Shoes, boots, one of a kind designer stores.  I went into one store, of course it was a baby store, the 1st outfit I asked about was 100 euros, oops maybe not, I love our Peanut, but I don't think he will be visiting the Queen anytime soon.  :)

 There were famous squares everywhere, turn a corner and there was another beautiful square, full of history, statues, wonderful architecture and small cafes serving exquisite wine while you watched the tourists with their phones and cameras capturing pictures everywhere of everything.  Above is the famous Palazzo Vecchio, the town hall of Florence and once the official seat of Cosimo de Medici.  It is situated in the Piazza della Signoria, the original David sat at the entrance to the Palazzo until it was moved in 1873.  This replica was made in 1910.

 Above is the Loggia dei Lanzi, built in 1376 and home to some amazing statues dating back to the 1500s.  It is such a surreal feeling sitting amongst so much history.  Below is the Uffizi Gallery the most visited art gallery in Italy.  Many of its treasures were - yes you guessed it - gifted to Florence by the Medici Family.

As we wander back to our apartment the sun is setting over Ponte Vecchio.  One of the most famous bridges in Florence it was first built in 996.  Famous now for its many jewelry shops that fill both sides of the bridge.    

A lovely apartment to relax in, a glass of Italian wine and we are ready to head out to dinner.  One of the things we didn't realize when we picked our location was the abundance of amazing restaurants literally down the street from us.  Luckily there were so many as the first 4 we went to were sold out.  The 5th one was a lovely family style Italian restaurant full of people but we managed to get a seat in the courtyard.  2 lovely ladies sat beside us and we started up a conversation with them, love the little touches of fate that you run into as your travel. They were a mother and daughter from Sweden and their grandfather's name was Karlsson.  In the 1930s there were so many Karlsson's in Sweden that her grandfather changed his name to something like Myrenberg, it turns out she has 2 nephews she is expecting to see play in the NHL.  Food was wonderful, night was magical, only 1 short day in Florence and I have fallen in love.