FLORENCE

Our love for Italy only grew as we arrived in beautiful Florence. The trend of warmth in temperature, in the people and overall energy continued. After settling into our hotel, we ventured out and walked along the river towards the Ponte Vecchio, which is a Medieval bridge over the Arno River and which has shops built along it (mostly jewelers, art dealers). Along the way we were enticed to stop by the overwhelming scent of fresh waffles. Mavreen couldn’t resist the gelato either. We walked for hours visiting all the main sites (the Piazza Del Duomo, Palazzo Pitti, Palazzo Vecchio, Santa Maria Novella, Piazza Della Singnoria, etc). After sightseeing we stopped to eat at a cozy gem of a restaurant, 4 Leoni. We had lasagna with artichoke hearts and pear stuffed fiocchetti pasta covered in taleggio cheese sauce with asparagus tips. Holy Yum. (unfortunately we were so excited by what arrived at the table, we forgot to document the meal with our traditional photograph – you’ll have to take our word for it – unbelievable!) After dinner we strolled back to the hotel and took it easy in preparation for our big day of wine tasting starting early in the morning!