Christmas Time In Florence

Well, the Italians do know how to decorate. Florence became a "city of lights" during the Christmas season. Nearly every street in the center is decorated with different kind of lights. We really enjoyed walking around these lit-up cobblestone streets.

This is our street.

These snowflake looking lights were my favorite.

Many of the stores had many beautiful window displays.

Piazza de Republica

This is one of the most popular squares in Florence. This was basically the only Christmas Tree we saw in the city.

This was the first street to light up during the season.

There were several Christmas festivals in December. This one was in our neighborhood, in front of Santa Croce. It was fun to walk around and see the crafts from all over Europe.

We had bratwurst and then apple strudel - we were still in Florence, right?

This is a picture of the most impressive street in the center. The lights were amazing! It was a ceiling of lights, fun to walk under all the twinkle lights!

Thanksgiving

J and I had a Happy Thanksgiving in Florence!

We found a nice restaurant, Angels, that served a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. Originally, we were thinking of cooking our own dinner, but since we have never cooked for Thanksgiving we were nervous to try in a foreign country... we didn't even know if we could find a turkey!

So, this dinner ended up being the perfect alternative. We were feeling quite homesick being away from our families, but at least we ate well!

1st course

We were greeted with champagne.

Then we started with a butternut squash soup (it was SO good! J doesn't like squash and he even loved it!)

Yummy, regional wine to go with our supper.

2nd Course

Thanksgiving, with all the fixings.

Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes (YUM), cranberries and veggies.

Dessert

Some kind of pumpkin torte.

It wasn't pumpkin pie, but at least we still got the taste of pumpkin.

Along with an outstanding hot apple cider.

The dinner was really yummy, not as good as a home cooked meal, but for being in Italy, we were pretty excited to find such a good meal!

They have started putting up some lights for Christmas. It looks beautiful and we can't wait to see the city completely lit up!

Four Ladies in Venice

I went with Anita, Sharon and Pam to Venice.  J and I went to Venice last year on vacation and were not super impressed.  When we were there it was SO hot and SO crowded.  I had my reservations about visiting it again, but I am so glad I did.  I definitely enjoyed Venice more on this visit then I did before.  I tried very hard to get over the crowds and tourist traps to just enjoy Venice for what it is, an incredibly unique city!

The day we arrived, it was pretty hazy, but it gave the city a different, almost creepy, feeling.  I thought it was cool!

We watched a beautiful sunset over the canal.  Beautiful.  

It is true that Italy has a ton of graffiti and generally it annoys me (especially when it is sprayed on the old, beautiful buildings) but I thought this was very cute, and welcoming!  

We took a walking tour of Venice and had a great guide that shared a lot of the history of Venice.  We saw the major sights in St. Marks square, but she also took us on the "back road" of Venice, away from the crowds and saw a more peaceful side of Venice.

I have to share the story about this picture...  Let me start by saying that the night before I sat on one of these outside our apartment while I was talking to J on the phone...  This slate was put in many years ago after on of the biggest Carnival celebrations.  The city had these built into many corners in an attempt to keep men from "weeing" in the corners... (got it, they try and it comes back and spills on their feet... haha!)  That just cracked me up!  

After our walking tour we had a tour of the grand canal!  This was a highlight for me!  We boarded a small wooden boat with a small group and had a tour of the canal.  Our guide was wonderful and it was neat to see the city from a different perspective.  

Anita and I

The light was beautiful.  This was a very enjoyable ride.  We also got a glass of champagne which made the tour that much more special.

I loved all of the steps that led to nowhere...  

The Rialto Bridge in the background.

I loved how the beautiful sky looked with the water.  I tried to capture it...

We had a wonderful time in Venice.  We found some great restaurants and enjoyed sampling the regional wine!  

After the visit in Venice, they ladies took the train to Florence where we met up with J for lunch.  Then the five of us headed on to Rome where the ladies spent the next 2 days tearing across the city.  They went to the colosseum, roman forum, Vatican Museum and St. Peter's Basilica.

They returned to Minnesota to recover from their busy and memorable visit.  We had a great time having them visit and were so happy they could make it to Italy to see our life here!

Anita, Sharon and Pam take on Italy!

We had a wonderful visit with our most recent guests!  

Sharon (J's aunt), Anita (J's mom), and Pam (long time friend of Anita).

I had a great time showing the three ladies all over Florence.  They were walking machines and took on Florence like it was a treadmill!  They went to many museums including the Uffizi, Accademia and the Bargello.  We had some wonderful, wonderful meals and we loved introducing them to our favorite foods, especially gelato!

J took them up into the dome of the Duomo - all of them made it up the 463 steps!

They said it was 100% worth all the work (and the sore muscles) for the beautiful view of Florence!

We were also able to go to a Fiorentia game!  Sadly, we lost, but it was still a fun experience to share with the ladies.  They all seemed to have a great time and really experienced Italian passion!

The five of us couldn't fit in the elevator, but the four fit just fine!

The 3 gals spent a day in Milan seeing the sights, including The Last Supper.  J and I met them early the next morning and took the train to Como to see the beautiful lake and the cute little towns.  J and I had been to Lake Como on our vacation last year, but we really enjoyed seeing that part of the country at a different time of year.  

We walked by this sculpture on our way to the lake.  It was just begging for a picture!!  (J is giving it "5")

The leaves were just starting to change and fall was setting in...  It was GORGEOUS!!! 

It was a beautiful fall day.  It was a bit chilly on our 2 hour boat ride, but we bundled up and enjoyed the amazing views!
Bellissimi!!

The sights of all the little villages along Lake Como are beautiful any time of year, but seeing them with the fall colors really was special.  I just had to share some of the many beautiful pictures I took...

Amazing Sunset

We ended our boat ride in Bellagio (the real city, not the hotel in Vegas).  We walked around exploring the cute shops and windy streets and then had a great supper.  We took the train back to Milan and felt refreshed from all the fresh air!

J's Calcio League

J recently joined some of the staff members of Fiorentina in a friendly calcio (soccer/football) league.  When they asked J to play, I don't think they were aware that J had never played a game of soccer in his life...  I had to go to the game, to see it first hand...  It was an entertaining night!  J actually held his own for pretty well for the 15 minutes he played, until he started falling! :o)  heehee, he said he just got so tired, his legs stopped working!  He said he had a really fun time though.  1 game down, 21 to go... maybe by the end he will be contracted to play for Fiorentina!

Here is a little video from the game.  J is the one with white hair in a green jersey with no number.