Today we met Patrizia who will be our guide for 3 of the days we explore Florence. She is absolutely delighful, full of patience & knows how to keep two young boys interested in European history for 3 hours. It may have helped that she began our time together with a trip to the back door of a gelato artisan who showed us how this wonderful delectable is made- complete with tastings of freshly made flavors but nevertheless, she left us wanting to know more about this fascinating city full of stories of terrible tyrants and genius minds.
The boys got to make connections today of things that we read about before leaving the US- we saw the Duomo & Brunelleschi's dome and the graves of Michelangelo, Galileo, Dante & Machiavelli at the Basilica Santa Croce. They were also especially interested in the powerful rule of the Medici family and the medieval towers that are still standing fully intact today after 900 years! At one point we were standing in a square with 1st century remains of Roman baths, a 6th century Byzantine tower and a tower built in the 1100's- amazing!
All this history made us hungry. We ended the day with a delicious meal and another "'first" for our trip. The dish of the night was Trippa alla Fiorentina- cow stomach with tomatoes. Everyone tried it- Matt ate most of it. I will just say that the sauce was delicious and leave it at that. Frederico (our apartment manager) says to enjoy it as a true Florentine we must also try it prepared another way as a sandwich... We'll see...
I may stick to just trying new gelato flavors like the ones we tried earlier in the day- fig with ricotta, sesame, kiwi and "black" chocolate... YUM!
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| Patrizia, Nash & cool dude |
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| Paolo and two eager boys |
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| The magnificant Duomo |
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| Medieval doors |
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| Medieval tower |
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| Bascilia Santa Croce- resting place of Michelangelo & other "greats" |
Happy Good Friday to my sweet family! You will remember this special Friday for a very long time with those exciting history stories of old. Poppy loves history so this has inspired him to reread about the powerful Medici Family. I cant wait to hear about the Precious Stone Museum. MawMaw Nash remembered your trip and asked about y'all today. She studied your pictures. Thanks for helping us feel like such a part of your day. Much love to all of you. GoGo and Poppy
ReplyDeleteAll of that looks so awesome! Thank you for sharing your trip with us! Love the shades Ross!
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