Florence and Sienna

After leaving Portugal we were eager to get back to Italy, and what a better place to start than Florence, where the Renaissance originally began? Our spirits were strained in Lisbon, so we were excited for a city that exudes creativity and encourages rebirth. We were not disappointed.
We started out the day by exploring the numerous and incredible Palazzo’s. We strolled through all the major ones, including the famous Palazzo del Duomo, which looks like it belongs at the end of a magical fairy tale. We rounded out the evening by eating dinner in the illustrious Piazza Della Replbblica while listening to the piano man stroke his melodies, and watching the merry-go-round all lit up with smiling tourists.

On our next day, we were treated to a real Italian tradition by attending a private cooking class. We were one of three couples that attended the intimate and informative course. We actually had to make our own pasta from scratch! I thought that I would be a bit out of my element as Megan is the real chef, but I actually had a blast and ended up with a new appreciation for the art….and what my wife is able to create in the kitchen!

The next day we continued to explore the vibrant town and ended up venturing across the Fiume Arno (Golden River), via the famous Ponte Vecchio Bridge. We had a wonderful meal at the Golden View Restaurant, thanks to a recommendation from Rick Steve’s book. Later, we checked out the Mercato Centrale where the locals get their groceries fresh every day. We strolled through the many shops and sampled the cheeses and olive oils; Megan even tried to sample some prosciutto that was out on a counter, only to have the owner yell, “No, no,” and quickly swipe the ham out of her clutches……I tried to explain that we saw someone else sampling it, but I to was met with a stern, “no!” I guess he could tell we were tourists and weren’t planning to buy his meat.

On the third day, we took a bus ride to Sienna. It is considered Florence’s little sister, but at one point, it rivaled for superiority in Italy until the Black Plague wiped out over a third of its population in the 14th century. It never recovered, and still maintains roughly the same population that it had back then, at 60,000 residents. We really enjoyed the smaller town and narrower streets that Sienna offered. We ate at a lovely little café in the center of the Il Campo square and later enjoyed a wine tasting at an enoteca where we met another American who had been living in Monaco for two years, but hailed from Los Angeles. We chatted about politics, investments, and life in general, as we sampled four fabulous wines. Afterwards, we strolled through the streets again and walked around the markets where Megan came across the largest mushrooms either one of us had ever seen. Some were actually as big as my forearm! We can only hope that one of them makes its way onto our dinner plates……It was truly a great trip to an old-world and picturesque town.

We are off to Lucca where we will rent a car to tour around Tuscany for a week or so.

Wine country, get ready for the Clark’s!