My Trip to Europe - part "due" (pronounced do-A) (That's Italian for "two")

Gosh - I've been a big slacker. I know I am not too good at this blogging thing, and I HAVE been out of town quite a bit with various job conferences and family commitments. But still - I've been home from my trip for almost 6 weeks. This is ridunkolous. :) (I overheard that word the other day and thought it was funny.)

So, on to my trip. I think I left with "Oh yeah, we hate RyanAir" - I really would prefer if no one ever rode that sham of an airline again. But, now I know that if someone (the RyanAir check-in attendant) with a Spanish accent says "fifty" they probably are really saying "fifteen". A minor difference when you are talking about peas or even pennies. But, when the conversation is about kilograms and meeting the airline's luggage weight requirements--things could quickly become problematic. She thought we understood, we thought she understood, we thought WE understood, it was a big mess that she only half helped us out of by reducing our huge overage charge from nearly 400 Euros. We could either pay it, or we couldn't fly - they wouldn't even return our luggage to us (to throw stuff away and have it re-weighed) unless we paid it. They held our luggage HOSTAGE! TERRORISTS!!

Anyway - we flew to Pisa and thus began a wonderful week in the gorgeous land of Tuscany. I will never, ever tire of this view and the million others like it:

(I think if you click on it, you can see it better. I think?)

So, in Pisa, we got to see the Leaning Tower. *Note to all those who decide to travel to Europe. As Americans, we may not be accustomed to walking most of the time. We walk for exercise, a romantic stroll, etc - rarely do we walk to get to work or to the market, etc. So when a European states that it is a [fill in the blank] minute walk, you are safe to double it. And that's if you are bookin' it. Here is a picture of our clan - me, Cassi, Brad, and Alexa Jo. She is still calling me "Bfff" at this time, we're trying to get her to call me Aunt Moff. Baby steps.

Of course, I had to have my picture doing this:

and it was really heavy - I almost didn't make it. Ha ha.

Sara and Giuseppe were our AMAZING hosts in Florence. This is Sara, her mother, me, and Giuseppe.Sara came to our home as an exchange student in high school back when we were seniors and we have stayed in touch this entire time. We have commented on how easy it is to converse with each other in spite of sporadic correspondence. I think that is the mark of true friendship and I love that she is a part of my family. She FINALLY (haha - that's for you, Sara) married Giuseppe 3 years ago July and they have a beautiful daughter, Vittoria who will soon be 2. She and Alexa Jo. became fast friends. This is is their first meeting:

While in Florence we went to the cities of Siena and Monteriggioni. These are both medieval towns that are so well preserved and just gorgeous. We visited several museums (I even got a picture of "the David" - yes, that's illegal, and one reason I have not posted it yet. I'm waiting for the statue of limitations to finish. HAHA - get it? STATUE of limitations! Hahaha - I kill me!)
and parks (Boboli Gardens is a must see - absolutely beautiful!) and ate like kings! Kings I tell you, Kings!

Sara is a wonderful cook. And Giuseppe could compete in the U.S. for his grilling skills. The meat there is making my mouth water even 6 weeks later. We LOVED the gelato and decided our favorite place was right off the bridge "Ponte alle Grazie". I found some wonderful souvenirs there and off the "Ponte Vecchio" or Old Bridge. Does gaining weight count as a "souvenir"? I say yes.

Sara ordered pizza for us one night, and I had no idea that it meant a pizza EACH. I looked at mine, looked at everyone else in amazement. By the way - when you order pepperoni pizza in Italy - it will only have ONE piece of pepperoni on it. Or if you get one with pepperoni and olives..yep, you guessed it, one piece of each. Anyway - the pizza is sooooooo delicious and you can see why they call it "amore" when it hits your eye ;) I'm in love!

We were walking down one of the bazillion streets (see picture -it's a big city) when I heard an accordion --a sound that will always remind me of Italy. I tracked this sound down and asked the man if I could get a picture of him (see below). Then Brad paid him a Euro. That was nice. :)

I had the best time in Florence! Brad got to drive, and he did AMAZING! They make 5 lanes out of 3 - genius, I tell ya! Thanks to Sara and Giuseppe for their generosity and their patience. We couldn't have asked for a better trip and better hosts. We are truly blessed.This man looked like he needed it more than the men who were standing in front of the Colloseum in Rome. They were charging at least 5 Euro, their reasoning? Because there are 3 of them. Ugh! Capitalists! jk We took a free picture in front of the Colloseum. But that is for Part 3...stay tuned.