Europe 2011: Dinner in Florence

After leaving the crowded city of Pisa, it was refreshing to load up on our private, air-conditioned bus for the trip back to Florence. Mom had done extensive research about restaurants that offered a view of the city along with fabulous food and service. She decided on La Reggia. She couldn't have picked a more perfect place!

You have to hike up a steep hill to make it
to the restaurant...and amazing views!

Still hiking...

Ahh...we have arrived!

View of the restaurant's patio and dining room.

We were told that the hike up would be worth our while. Wow! That was an understatement! I never got tired of looking out over the city of Florence. It was absolutely beautiful. Since we were a little early for our reservation, we got to spend a few minutes snapping up photos. Later, when asked about favorite parts of the trip, several of us referred to this spot.

The grandsons.

The granddaughters.

The restaurant was, of course, excellent! They were very child-friendly (a bonus with ten children), the food was fresh and tasty, and the wine was superb. Not to mention that, the whole time, there was the magnificent view of Florence and Fiesole.

Good friends, good food, good drink,
and good conversation!

The kids enjoyed having their own table...again!

Theresa and Joe as the sun sets in the background.

After eating a five-course meal, we were all pretty stuffed. And, what goes up...must come down, so we all began our trek down the hill.

Here we go...

Mom and Dad halfway down.

I love this picture of Christina and Melody!

Mom and Dad sharing a sweet moment with Stefania.

Completely refreshed, we were all excited about the next day's travel. We would begin the day on the high-speed Frecciarossa train, visit a volcano and the buried city of Pompeii, and end the evening in the coastal town of Sorrento, where we would rest our heads!

TO BE CONTINUED...

Europe 2011: Florence (Day Two) and Pisa

We woke up in Florence and after eating what was yet another delicious breakfast, we set our sights on visiting the market. Stefania (who lives in Florence) really wanted us to see how wonderful the market is for the native Florentines.

I'm glad we went to see how Italians do their grocery shopping. Everything is extremely fresh! No need for preservatives in Italy. We were greeted with fresh breads, fruit from local farmers, and a variety of meats hanging from hooks. No wonder the Italians are so fit! It made me wish that the United States was a little more like them. The majority of your choices for sustenance in Italy are healthy ones; whereas, in America it seems like the majority of offerings are unhealthy. No wonder there is an obesity problem in our country.

Group heading out in the morning.

Deciding on what to buy...so many choices!

The fruit looked the best to a lot of us.

Ahh...Stephen found the coffee!

After grabbing some snacks for the day's journey, we left the market and went to check out some of Florence's landmarks. Our first stop was the Duomo (the Basilica of Saint Mary of the Flower) which includes Giotto's Campanile and, only a few feet away, the Baptistry of St. John. Our guide told us of the history of the statues, the bronze doors, and the architects and artists involved in the dome and facades. Learning of the twists and turns to bring these buildings to fruition over the many years, makes the sight of these works of art even more amazing!

Stephen, Sara, Ian and Kelsey leaving the market
and walking to join us on the Cathedral Steps.

Us, on the steps of the Il Duomo.

Mom and Dad waiting on their children
to emerge from the crowd.

Baptistry doors displaying the
Ten Commandments.

Theresa and Joe in the Piazza del Duomo.

We walked three blocks to the Galleria dell'Accademia to view Michelangelo's statue, The David. Mom (ever the planner) made sure that we had tickets reserved as soon as we had the dates set for the trip. It is an extremely busy place. Demand simply outstrips supply in the summer months. It is recommended to book your reservations as soon as you have booked your flights over to Italy. Thank goodness Mom knew this tidbit! Otherwise, we would have surely missed out on seeing this as the line to get into the gallery wrapped completely around the building!!

The line to enter The Accademia.

Cameras are not allowed, so thankfully Anna and Abbey had their iPod's with them. Encouraged by their parents, they were both able to snap up a few pictures. (Rumor has it that Bob took a few from Abbey's iPod as well, but this has not been confirmed with him as of yet.)

Anna's stolen picture of The David.

From Florence, we traveled to the eastern edge of the Tuscany region to Pisa. Again, with Mom being the master planner, we all benefited from her advance preparations. She arranged it so that the whole group had reservations to enter and walk the almost 300 spiral steps to the tower summit. This is a real treat. Only a certain number of people are allowed to go up into the tower each day and those reservations are sold out months in advance. We were very lucky to have this experience.

The baptistry, cathedral and tower.

Stephen and his family in front of the Leaning Tower.

Moments before entering the Tower.

Alex leading the way to the top!

View from the summit.

 
Mom and Dad hung back so that Theresa and Joe were able to go up with us. Even Alex, who has an intense fear of heights, managed the climb. I was very impressed with Alex as even I was petrified heading up the stairs. They are marble and slippery, not to mention leaning 12 feet from the vertical. It felt like being in a fun house, except that you could fall to your death here. Besides Alex and me, everyone else felt safe being at the top as evidenced by the number of family photos taken up there!

Anna and Abbey at the top.

Taking a rest.

Stephen got this picture. I like it because it shows
Bill going around getting family photos.

Stephen being King of the Tower!

Bill got this picture of Stephen's Family
and Theresa and Joe.

And, it wouldn't be Pisa if you didn't get a picture or two with a family member trying to hold up the Leaning Tower! I love the photos below because they are so off! We got pictures where it looks perfect, but who likes perfect?!?

We loaded back onto the bus and drove back through Tuscany to arrive back in Florence for dinner. Although this wasn't the end of our day, I'm going to end this post in Pisa. The dinner was so special and beautiful, that I am going to do a separate blog entry on that later.

TO BE CONTINUED...