Parentals Do Italy! Part 1: The Arrival

Ok so this is the post that everyone (and by everyone, I mean my Mom and Dad) has been waiting for!  My parents came to visit at the end of March for 12 days and it was amazing!  First they flew into Rome and took a train to Florence.  I'm very proud that they did this on their own without any disasters!  (This may have been partly due to my Dad's blackberry, which he did not get off of the entire time.  Seriouly, ask my Mom.  We have pictures.).  I went and met them in Florence and we began our weekend!

On their first day they were understandably a bit tired and jet lagged so we took it easy.  Now that I've made fun of my Dad a bit, I must make fun of myself.  We decided to just walk around Florence a bit and apparently all my Mom saw Dad and I arguing over which way to go while staring at a map.  As it turns out, neither of us know Florence very well.  Surprising, right?  As we walked around and took in how beautiful Florence is, the skies opened up on us and we got stuck in a crazy storm!  It only lasted for about 10 minutes, but it was a nice "welcoming" to Italy for my parents.  Afterwards we made our way back to the hotel to rest up and nap for a bit.  That night we had our first Italian dinner together and ate way too much of course.  It was absolutely delicious and I got to show my Italian language skills.  Despite the food comas we were close to entering, we got gelato for dessert.  We all went back to the hotel early to get some sleep so we could continue our adventure the next day.

Quick side bar, our hotel was on a side street and our first few times trying to get to it we had trouble finding it because we didn't see the the street sign.  One time we actually spotted the sign and instead of assuming that it was there the whole time, my Dad proclaimed, "Well they finally put up the sign!!"  Haha, sorry Dad, the story is too good, it had to be told.

The next day we had breakfast in the hotel and went on our way.  We got to see so much of the city over the course of the weekend.  We went to the Uffizi Gallery, which is the most famous museum in Florence.  It houses pieces like Botticelli's "Birth of Venus" and Leornardo da Vinci's "The Annunciation," amongst many others.  

We also went to the Duomo, which is the largest and most famous cathedral in Florence.  We decided to climb to the top to see Brunelleschi's dome.  From there we could see the entire city, and wanted to take some pictures.  Unfortunately the wind was blowing so hard, we only want to be on one side of it!  My parents definitely did not come to Italy to be blown off the top of a dome!  It was a hike to get to the top of it, but insane getting down.  There are two stairways for the majority of the climb, one to get up and one to get down.  Unfortunately, at one point the path becomes one!  There was quite the traffic jam, and a dark narrow staircase is not where you want to get stuck.  Fortunately we made it all intact, but it was definitely interesting.

My Mom's favorite part of Florence was the famous bridge, the Ponte Vecchio.  We compared it to Jewelry's Row in Philadelphia because leading up to the bridge and across it was all jewelry shops!  The view is what you really go for though.  Check out my shutterfly photos to see some beautiful shots of the sun setting over the bridge.  My Mom liked it so much there that we went back everyday!

Of course since we were in Florence, there was much shopping to be done.  There are a few streets in Florence that are all outdoor shops.  They sell everything from gorgeous leather bags and jackets, to beautiful glass jewelry, to colorful scarves.  We found ourselves spending a lot of time there.  (Thanks for the jacket Mom and Dad!)  It is definitely the place to get gifts for family and friends.  It's where I got most of mine last time I was in Florence, and where they got most of theirs!  We also bought some fantastic olive oil from this little side shop.  The man that worked there was adorable!  He didn't speak great English, but between his English and my Italian we managed to get by.  We ended up trying 4 different kinds of delicious olive oil, and buying 6 bottles!  I'm pretty sure we made his day.

Another stop we made was Santa Croce, a beautiful cathedral that has Michelangelo's tomb.  One of the reasons I wanted to take them there is because it's a gorgeous Christian church, with a giant Star of David in the front of it!  It was built by a Jewish architect and he apparently wanted to leave his mark!  It's beautiful inside and the architecture is incredible.  And of course the comment was made that maybe they should have gotten married there!  (About 25 years too late Mom and Dad...)

While in Florence we had some incredible meals, of course lot's of great pasta dishes!  But then it was time to move on from Firenze and go onto Umbria (Perugia and Brufa).