Italia: Day 3b - Florence

After our food tour, we were pretty tired. 

But we had an appointment with David, and we were not about to miss it.

So, we headed over to the Accademia. 

Fortunately, we had a reservation so the line we got to stand in was much shorter than the walk-in line. 

They've got full-on metal detectors and such to get into the museum! They are not messing around.

This was the only official museum we paid to go into. It was worth it. 

We aren't so much of the history pair, but we knew David is an Italian staple.

You're not supposed to take pictures in there. And oh my goodness, they have security people and cameras everywhere. We had to get very creative about how to get a photo. 

Carly served as both sensor and decoy. :)

We like to call this piece: "David: Sensored and Unsensored"

After that, we went back to our hotel. Carly didn't really feel good and we were ready to have a night in.

But I knew of this one place we had to eat at. So we decided this was the night.

Poor Car. She was such a good sport. I dragged her across the city to this place.

This part of the trip ended up being the best ever.

Our walk over took us through the heart of Florence.

Our walk also took us across the Ponte Vecchio. The view off this bridge was r.a.d.

We eventually arrived at our destination: Trattoria 4 Leoni. 

We ordered wine. And bread.

  And let's not talk about the other thing I ordered by accident. It is pictured for memory's sake alone.

we like this picture because it looks like we shared a glass of wine. portion control!

But the real reason for our visit was this little masterpiece: 

in Italian -- "Fiocchetti di Pera in salsa di taleggio e aspargi" 

in English -- "most heavenly little pear-filled raviolis with asparagus I've ever tasted in my whole life"

Here's how it went.

C - I'm not gonna get anything. I don't really feel good and I'm not hungry.

J- ok. I'm getting this pear thing because hundreds of people say it's amazing.

C - ok.

dish comes with like six little ravioli in it

J - oh. my. gosh. you. have. to. try. this.

C - tries it. oh. my. gosh. that. is. amazing. i'm ordering one.

J - me too. we're sharing this one and getting two more.

C - perfect. is that gonna be enough?

We would go back to Florence just for this meal. Seriously.

I have never felt this way about something I ate. 

I'm typically not picky, but also not amazed by food very often. 

But this? Holy moly.

We also enjoyed taking photos [mostly me taking photos of C] at our table. 

many of which ended up blurry. [that happened way too often this week!]

And then we had another episode of what I like to call "faces of Carly."

This was by far our favorite meal of our trip {except the one we made tomorrow}.

And we loved being south of the Arno river. It had it's own vibe.

Walking home tonight went much better, since we understood the city a bit better.

We stopped and took a few photos walking back.

God is seriously amazing.

 the duomo at night

 nightlife

florence transportation :)

back to our favorite cafe for dessert and lattes. :)

One funny part of our hotel room... wifi didn't quite reach. And of course we had to be able to text home and post a few instagrams! So we would sit on our little chairs outside in the freezing cold with our comforter wrapped around us on our phones before bedtime. My how times have changed. :)

We loved day two. Food tour, David, exploring new areas, and discovering an amazing meal and a cozy cafe. All with my sweet sister.