Florence, Italy - June 13

Today is our 1 year anniversario! As Craig said, "We should be proud we've made it this far." And what better way to celebrate than be here, in Italy.

We started off the day heading to the Uffizi Gallery, the most popular art hot spot in Florence. But first, I had to stop for my first caffe latte. The coffee I made myself yesterday was waaaaay bad. I don't know if I'm making it wrong, or not manly enough for Italian Machinetta coffee. But I just stopped in a cafe, asked for "un caffe latte." It was perfect.

The Uffizi was kind of crazy at first. Once we picked up our tickets from the reservation booth, they herded us through security like cattle. They limit how many people can go in, so there's not a mad rush to see Giotto! I got to see lots of greats like Giotto, Botticelli, DaVinci, Reubens, Rembrandt, and two of my favorites: Carravaggio & Artemesia Gentilleschi. Here are some pictures:

Medieval Art

I thought these were interesting with the misproportioned heads.

I took a lot of pictures of the ceilings. I was just as impressed by this as I was the framed art. The rooms were art in themselves.

Street Cred. The Birth of Venus by Botticelli

Craig getting Street Cred.

The ceiling in the Tribuna Room. No one is allowed to go in here! You have to stand behind a glass gate and just look in.

The higher part of the wall in the Tribuna room. This was commissioned by Francesco I (Medici Family) to display all of his prized possessions like artwork and furniture. I guess I didn't get any pictures of the paintings! I just liked the walls and ceiling.

Ceiling masterpiece.

This is gold.

More Gold.

This is Lacoon. I was excited to see this because I used it in class when we talked about Grecco Roman art.

Close up. eeeeeek!

Craig with a Rembrandt self portrait.

Titian's Venus.

This guard yelled at Craig twice to "Get his feet off the bench!" but in Italian.

1 year anniversary picture in front of the Duomo!

My girl, Artemsia Gentilleschi's "Beheading of Holofornes"

Carravaggio

Me yelling at Craig because he's not taking my pictures the way I want him to.

Craig enjoying himself.

After the gallery, we set out on our 3rd journey for a SIM card for my phone. We can most certainly get by without it by using actual paper maps, but I've grown accustomed to my GPS! And I want to use Google translate, Trip Advisor, and Instagram at my convenience! We found a closer shop to get a SIM card and had our passports with us this time. We decided to have a snack and walk around more before heading back to our apartment. We passed a pizzeria called, Toto atto II, and we could smell the wonderful aromas! I hadn't passed a place that smelled this good yet, so we agreed to eat there. They had everything nicely displayed in the windows. While this was my first pizza experience, I have a feeling it will be one of my favorites.

Our first pizza experience. I had a zucchini flowers, tomato, and cheese slice. Craig had "The Fresca" with tomatoes mozzarella chunks and fresh basil. The crust was amazing. The best I have EVER had.

 After pizza, we stopped in a couple shops, the grocery store, and headed back to the apartment to rest a bit before dinner. Some pictures from the way back:

When I saw this, I was very empathetic having grown up in Branson, Missouri.

Grocery Store, Italian Style.

Ha! Chock 'n Roll!

For dinner tonight, we made reservations at a restaurant within walking distance called  La Terrazza Del Principe. I had heard really good things about it, and we actually passed it our first night here but thought it looked too fancy for our desperate hunger. We arrived at 8 pm and they gave us the best seat on the terrace overlooking some of the countryside and the city in the distance. We ordered Bruschetta for our antipasti, a light buttered pasta with mussels for our first course and a pistachio chicken for our second course. The chicken was by far my favorite. I have never tasted anything like it. And of course, we had tirimisu for dessert (an a decaf caffe for me). Everything was very laid back and they brought our food out in a leisurely pace. It was all perfect timing with watching the sun go down and eventually it was dark and we could see the city lights. It really was picturesque. Craig and I have said multiple times that it's so crazy that we're here. We are physically in all of these areas that you have only seen in pictures that look like they've been photo shopped. But Italy definitely doesn't need it. Well, here are pictures of our evening:

Taken right from my seat.

Also taken from my seat.

Just a bit after sunset.

1 year Anniversary dinner!

Craig being cute.

Me being cute.

And Florence being cute. So thankful to be here!

Random things from today:

*I spoke too soon on the mosquitos! Probably jinxed myself yesterday. They are very sneaky and have been getting into our apartment at night.

*On the way home from the restaurant, there were tons of snails (the biggest I've ever seen) crawling all over the sidewalks. I did my duty and moved all of them to the side of the path. I'm sure people just plow on through and smoosh them all the time.