Firenze: A weekend with Kelly

This weekend Kelly came to Florence. Luckily, we were able to book her flights in and out of Pisa which was much easier than having her go through Rome. Thursday was a relaxing night where I took her to a few local hot spots of where my friends and I enjoy eating and having a few drinks. We ate at our favorite place where Massimo--not my wine instructor--gave us some free wine and pizza bread before having a delicious meal. Kelly ordered the chicken and broccoli penne, upon my suggestion, and I had a pizza. We went to dinner with Meg, Sarah, Alexis and Christine, which was nice because it gave Kelly a chance to meet some of my good friends here. After dinner, we headed to Bigallo's (another local hotspot) and had a few drinks. Unfortunately, the meal was not sitting too well with me, so we headed out early from there and took a walk around florence where I showed kelly a few famous places in Florence, some that included, the Ponte Veccio and the Sante Croce. However, I had to end the night early because I began getting a headache and slightly nauseous.

The next day we had an to

catch a bus by 930 to be able to take a wine tour of a small yet renowned vineyard, Agricola Querciabella, their 2006 Chianti Classico is a delicious treat and I definately suggest trying it. We were allowed to try thier 2007 version, which I think will hit stores early next year. In addition, we tried their super tuscan wine, Camartina (2006), which was also very good. The wine tasting was a nice conclusion to the vineyard tour, where we learned about how wine is made from the soil to the cellar to the bottle. Besides the amazing views and delicious wine, being there with Kelly made it truly an amazing experience.

After the wine, we made our way back to Florence, where I brought Kelly to another local sandwich shop, called The Oil Shoppe. Kelly had a turkey pesto sandwich and I had the chicken pesto sandwich. Let me tell you, they were delicious. After a filling meal we walked around some more until we were ready to nap. After shopping for food, I began making Kelly my famous (or not so famous... yet) gnocchi with a homemade wine sauce. After dinner I brought Kelly to Grom, a local gelateria, where we both had some of the best gelato in the city. After taking a few pictures with our melting ice cream. We took to walking and found ourselves overlooking the entire city of florence at the Piazza Michelangelo. Once being ask in Italian why we were slow dancing to no music (or so that is what I thought the man said)... we decided to climb back down the hill back to the apartment to get some rest for a day in the markets.

The gnocchi I made Kelly with some cheesy
bread and sparkling white wine!

Kelly and I with our gelati!

Kelly overlooking Florence at night!

Kelly and I on top of Piazza Michelangelo!

Saturday we got up and decided to try out the markets to see if Kelly could find herself a leather bomber jacket. However, she found herself swept away by an Italian salesman, who almost got her to buy one. We were able to escape the slippery slope of spending loads of money by browsing and getting ideas for presents in the future. Lucky for Kelly I did most of the spending. I purchased a cashmere-silk pashmina for Kelly and a leather wallet for me. I think overall it was a fun time in the markets. While in the central markets (aka food and wine) we ran into one of Kelly's DZ sisters, Myah Blazer. It was great to see her and awesome to know that she loved Florence. After walking for hours in the markets we headed to the store to have Kelly pick out the meal she want to make me for dinner. She ended up decided on spinach and riccota tortellini in pesto sauce. That wonderful meal came after mass at the Duomo. The Duomo mass was different, very simple, and in ENGLISH!!! So it was a the right mass to go to. After a later dinner we found ourselves tired so we popped in a movie (happened to be white chicks) before retiring for the night. Sadly Kelly had to leave in the early AM.

After being in my apartment all day alone, I would have to say I was homesick. I just wanted to be curled up by the fire watching a football game with the family and I knew I couldn't. This weekend was a nice breath of home air, I was just sad it had to end so suddenly. I miss everyone from home and hope all are well. Keep having fun, because though I may have had a slight case of homesickness, I am having a blast here. Hopefully I will travel more to report more for adventures. For now Ciao! Here are some more pictures of Kelly and I this weekend!