Erin and I averaged about three hours of sleep prior to our trip to Florence, we were so excited to get on the road. We took the train from her apartment to the airport to pick up our rental car, Smarty… the smart car!

With Erin as my navigator and Smarty as our leader, we hit to road to Florence.

When we arrived we quickly checked into Hotel Sempione and headed over to see Michaelangelo’s David. Erin made us reservations, and thank goodness she did, because we bypassed a really long line and got right in. No pictures were allowed inside the museum, even though Erin took one on her phone before we saw the sign forbidding us; but let me tell you… that statue is serious. The detail of the sculpture is so intricate and life like; Erin and I sat on a little bench and just took it in.

After a few hours in the car and site seeing a little bit we were ready for some grub. We found a great little cafe called La Botegga del Fornaio and split a few yummy treats.

We shared this amazing polenta lasagna that I will definitely try to recreate.

Along with a spinach and ricotta tart and

we also had some tortellini ragu.

With full bellies and just 3 hours asleep we both decided we would go back to our hotel for an hour or two of R&R before we did some more sight seeing.

Once we had a little bit of rest we were ready to see some more of beautiful Florence.

I loved seeing this man playing the accordion, it felt very Italian.

The Duomo in Florence was breathtaking!

Since we had such a late lunch we decided to stick with gelato and wine for dinner, and who can blame us. Gelato is from the central region of Toscana, or Tuscany, so we knew we had to have it while we were in Florence.

My advice to you: if you ever make it to Italy, I highly recommend having gelato and wine at least one night for dinner.

We had such a blast in Florence, but our trip was short lived. Since we were road tripping we decided to stay in each city one night, so we went back to our hotel to get some sleep before we headed out in the morning. Cinque Terre here we come!

Arrivederci!