Will you be my Firenze?

Florence, Italy started out with a rough start as we booked a room right next to the river.  What this means is that there were somehow mosquitos in our room, so Aaron didn't sleep at all the first night but he did however have 28 mosquito bites by the morning.  Needless to say, we checked out early the next morning and moved places.  Our next place was quite nice, not by the river, and it was near everything.  Florence was so beautiful.  The history there is amazing and the buildings, churches, etc are so over the top it's crazy to think how long ago they were actually built.  Italy also gives Thailand a run for the best food in a country.  Pizza, pasta, gelato, and great wine is a tough combo to beat.  It surprises me everyone here isn't completely obese, but then you realize that they walk places and they don't eat overly processed foods for every meal.  


This is the Duomo.  It's huge.  You can pretty much see it from everywhere in the city.  There is a hike up to the top of the dome, but with our exceptional planning we saved it for our last day and of course it was closed!  Oh well, next time.  And let's be real, hiking up hundreds of stairs in a building without A/C doesn't sound that fabulous.

Here is the replica statue of Michaelangelo's David.  Someday I will look like this, minus the foreskin.  This was good enough for us to see as we didn't want to wait in line to see the real thing.  Some would say we're not good tourists, I disagree.  Going into museums is a nightmare and I usually have zero interest in what is in most of them.

This sandwich shop below (All'Antico Vinaio) produced the best sandwich I've ever had.  Everything is so fresh and there are many different spreads/vegetables.  Also, €2 self-service vino is pretty great while you're waiting.  Great job by ATG is finding this little gem.

Enjoying our sandwiches from All'Antico Vinaio with a view of Vecchio Bridge.  Take away food + finding a place with a view to eat it is much better than sitting in a tourist trap restaurant. 

This is the sunset while sitting on Vecchio Bridge.

More Vecchio Bridge, it is beautiful.

Below is Piazza del Duomo in the evening.  This square amazed me.  It's hard to tell just how big these buildings are. 

Churches are great to go in during the day because they are so pretty, but they're more appealing at night to sit on the steps and drink your wine.  I'm sure when they built these hundreds of years ago, they pictured people chugging down wine and cheap booze on their steps.  

I don't remember what church this was in but let's just say it was in the Duomo.

ATG posing.  

I loved how Italians are so proud of being Italian.  I'd say it's equivalent to how Aaron is with the US.  You see the green/white/red everywhere you go and I think this photo captured it perfectly.  

I'm 85% sure this is the Basilica of St. Lawrence.  As you can tell, we go to see the sites, not to learn the history.

The view from Piazza Michelangelo was amazing.  Here you can see the wall that I assume used to be around the whole city.  

I told you the Duomo was huge, look at that thing!  The city having the same colored rooftops made it so beautiful.  You can also see Vecchio Bridge.  We wanted to come up here for sunset but they were having the Italian MTV awards up here so unfortunately we could only go during the day. 

All over Italy they had Apertivo Buffets.  This is where you go in buy a drink for €5-9 and then it comes with a buffet of great food.  The buffet usually has a lot of apps, salads, pizza, pasta, etc.  We really loved the one at Kitsch which was right down the street from our apartment.

Vecchio Bridge at night

It's always interesting asking people to take a photo for you.  I would say 9 out of 10 times the photo is so zoomed in on you, you can't see what you're in front of.  Here is a perfect example:

Same view, but this person did much better.

Ciao Venezia

We have been planning on going to Venice for quite some time and we thought it would be a great place to start our Italian vacation.  We flew into a nearby city Treviso and then from there took a quick, easy and affordable bus into the city.  We ended up staying in a great little hotel walking distance to everything and this is the first hotel we have stayed at I believe on this entire trip because usually we rent out apartments.  Venice of course is beautiful and there isn't a whole lot to say so we will do this as a picture blog with commentary.

Canals like this one are plentiful.  I think the best way to see Venice is just to walk around and get lost which is hard to do because you always seem to end up in the same spot.

Drew in Saint Mark's Square.  You can see a lot of pigeons but they did not seem as crazy as when I was there ten years ago with my parents.

The Rialto bridge.  This is a very touristy area of town but the bridge is beautiful except for the huge banner on the front advertising some museum.  Why would they do that?

More Beautiful Canals.

We took a picture in front of this building on the right because of the texture of the wall but it really doesn't come out in the photo.

An old British lady insisted on taking our photo here as she saw us walking through the streets.  She asked us if we understood her English so maybe she wasn't British.

Posing.

Gondoliers getting ready to take some people out.  Apparently you have to be licensed to be a Gondolier and there can only be so many of them and the prices for day and night trips are fixed by the city.

Okay so we have to write about this food.  It is from the number one rated restaurant on Trip advisor called Alfredo's.  It is hard to find but so worth it for a quick lunch take away spot.  They give you a pound of pasta for 6 or 7 euros and since they have no tables we just took it to a nearby canal and ate on the water and watched the Gondola's go by.  If in Venice and looking for a quick lunch stop then do not miss this place!

We were trying to find our way home and got lost in this spot on the Grand Canal.  Dead end!

I don't think photos do the canals justice.

Drinking beers while walking around the streets.

Obligatory handstand photos, more to come.

I am actually hovering above water here on our walk home.  No one was around because everyone seems to go to bed around 10 PM in Venice which is so different from other European cities (maybe because everyone in Venice seems to be American).

Inside the church at Saint Mark's Square where there are signs for no pictures everywhere but no one seems to abide by that rule including us.

I thought this was so cool.  I was wondering how locals worked out or even lived with all of the tourists around but this guy seems to have found a way by riding his bike on the canals with floaties attached to each side.  We had a great two days in Venice which was plenty of time.  The city is small and we started seeing the same things repeatedly after the first day.  Next stop Firenze (Florence)!

Home in Amsterdam

Hoi Hoi!  So while in Europe Amsterdam will be our home base.  Our good friends Emily and Jim live there and have been so gracious as to host us off and on for the next few months.  The Netherlands hold a special place in my heart as I studied abroad in the country and now coming back it feels like home.  Since Drew and I have both been to Amsterdam our goal while here is just to make it feel like we live here with our friends that we already have and meet new friends as well.

A big portion of our time revolves around family dinners.  Emily is a great cook and has allowed me to help her in the kitchen to make her life a little easier.  On our first night in Amsterdam Jim picked us up from the airport and Emily made us Tacos in the slow cooker which were some of the best I have ever had!  I ended up making a burrito bowl (think Chipotle but better).

We get a lot of our groceries at the market where everything is on sale for much cheaper than the actual store.  They also have fresh stroopwaffles.  If you don't know I love Stroopwaffles (a coaster shaped cookie with caramel in the middle of it).

Nate (who also came to Spain) had never been to the Heineken Factory so while Jim was at work one day we all went on the tour.  I think it was the 10th time I have done it in my life but first time in five years.  

With the tour you get three beers (one in the taste testing room) and then two after with buttons that they give you on your wrist band.  Luckily people drop their buttons and we were able to pick them up and get extra drinks.  The tour is quite funny and includes a ride which shows you how to make beer that includes spraying water on you and heating you up and shaking you around (like disneyland but lower budget).

The canals are so pretty.  They look dirty but our Dutch friends insist you can swim in them and that the water is clean and is washed through twice a day.  It's so clean that even Queen Maxima (from Argentina) has swam in them.

Drew and I on the I Amsterdam sign.  Luckily the letters D and A are near each other.  If you haven't noticed we always have the same clothes on because we each brought one jacket and who would have thought that in June it would still be freezing cold.

This is the view from Jim and Emily's balcony and anytime it is nice we sit out on the balcony and play cards.  Emily has a nice garden going on with all the flowers and herbs you could imagine.  They also have a unique apartment which has the same size balcony on both sides of the apartment but the sun shines on this side more.

We decided one night to go to a coffee shop (not to be confused with a cafe which serves coffee).  Of course it was raining but we had a good time and got this lovely picture.

I have two Dutch friends (Bram and Rien) that are twins that I have known for years and live in Amsterdam.  I introduced Emily to them and she became part of their circle of friends.  Where I am going with this is that what goes around comes around and this is a friend of Bram and Rien's named Jarno on the left that has been a great tour guide and friend to hang out with that Emily introduced us to.

Such a great tour guide that we spent my favorite day in Amsterdam on his boat touring the canals with prosecco and cheese.  It was such a nice day and so much fun.  I had been on tours of the canals but never on a boat for 8 hours with friends.  By far my favorite day!

Us going through a tunnel on the boat.

Beautiful views in the background.

Drew and I.

Sometimes the tunnels get so low that you have to lay down.  Including the person driving the boat.  What I should mention here is that Emily is wearing my extra clothes and a towel which is because on the way home from the canals we have to briefly go into water with big ships.  A wave hit us and she was too slow to react and was covered in water and freezing cold because the sun was going down and the temperatures dropping.  We sadly didn't get a picture of the event but it will forever be ingrained in my mind.

Us at Vondell Park on another nice day!  Music cards and food!

One of Emily's last nights.  Jarno and Robert hosted a going away party and this was us leaving to go to it!

One of her goals before leaving was to ride bikes through the city.  We only had two bikes and had to ride to Emily's friends house from Dutch class named Inga to pick up the third.  It was quite hilarious because the Dutch make riding someone on the back look so easy since they have been doing it their entire lives but we made it look hard!  If you haven't seen the video footage, just ask.  We almost wrecked several times.

It is much easier to have three bikes!  Canal photos.

The I Amsterdam sign in Museumplein is always filled with tourists but on our bike ride home at about 930 PM (yes its still this light out at this time) we decided to go by it since it was on the way home and literally there was nearly no one there so we were able to get a much better panoramic.  We are off to Italy soon for a few weeks.  Venice, Florence, Cinque Terra and Rome!!!  Until then....Tot Ziens!