No I do not know any Italian but I have a translator app on my phone!
We are ending our two night stay in Florence also known as "Firenze" which was super confusing to me while watching road signs on our drive here. I said to Nick "why do you keep taking the Firenze exits....ahh he knew what it meant and I obviously did not.
Speaking of our drive - We picked up our new rental car at the Venice airport and knew we needed GPS (no way to drive without it here). Our rental car guy failed to mention that the car had a navigation system so now we get to try to talk the return location into refunding us for a GPS that we never used - wish us luck!
Driving here is not fun - nothing about it is fun at all. I know it's because we don't know the area but it's not just that - it's the speed trap camera's, it's the rules in and around Florence, it's the crazy ass motorcycle riders that just show up on the side of your car, it's the one way streets, it's the road signs you cannot read and yes it's just not going to happen again with us. We already decided that next time we are traveling by planes and trains only.
Again this trip has been about the journey which even if it is stressful we have enjoyed it because we are doing it together. I would be in tears if I was trying to navigate this on my own.
Our hotel here the "Mulino Di Firenze" is a beautiful Tuscan style hotel on the outskirts of Florence. We chose it because it had parking, a shuttle to and from town and also because of it's style and it's on a very beautiful part of the river Arno. It's was an old water mill way back when and it's been so fun to stay in. They have a beautiful restaurant with excellent food and a fun bar with an old Italian man as their bartender who I made friends with. Love him and want to bring him home. He calls me "beautiful American woman". You don't tip here so I know it's not for tips!
Our room is pretty cool but very very small. It's two stories with the upstairs having the bigger bed but it's a pull out so we were like - yeah no that's not going to happen. The downstairs is a small double size bed - yes double which was super cozy given the fact that we have been sleeping in much larger ones the entire trip.
The first evening we were here we were exhausted from the drive. Not sure how that can make you tired but the mental stress from it wiped us out and we are staying outside of town so we decided to stay here and have a nice dinner then go to town in the morning fresh and relaxed. Plus a bottle of Prosecco was delivered to our room and yes we drank it....:)
We had an amazing dinner out on the patio overlooking the river and then walked all around the property. There are different pathways that give you different views of the river including a small waterfall type portion. There were men fly-fishing which was fun to watch as well.
I did even get Nick to practice our dance routine on this big grass area. Our instructor would be proud although it was a little rough given the wine we drank before and during dinner...lol. I'm sure the Italians think we are crazy but we will never see them again right?
I got woke up (because it was like 4 am here) to my phone blowing up with text messages. I thought what in the world is going on. Well it was about the terrorist attack in Nice and it was friends and family checking on us. We love you all and it was very sweet to know we were worried about. It just saddens me this world we are living in. I just don't understand why there are these crazies out there wanting to harm others. But like I said in my Facebook post - we must go on living our lives to the fullest and you cannot live in fear.
We had a taxi pick us up the next morning because there is no driving in Florence (the city part) and we honestly never saw a parking lot to even park in on the outskirts. We had a check-in time for our cooking class so we knew we didn't have time to mess around looking for where to park.
We signed up for a 5 hr We Tuscan cooking class and all I can say is WOW! I have never taken a cooking class (obviously for some of you) and it was a blast. We were at a work station with a family from.....Seattle....yes very small world. They apparently travel on huge trips every summer with their two young boys so you know me I had to Google the husband when I got back to the hotel because I knew no way could a "normal" family have the time or money to take the length of trips to the locations they said they had been to every summer. Sure enough I found 
him. He is a travel writer and writes books on how to travel with children. I just had a feeling....They were super nice and the wife and I enjoyed sharing stories on kids, travel and doing laundry in hotel rooms!In our class we learned how to and successfully made delicious, Tagliatelle (fresh pasta from scratch), a meat sauce, a cherry tomato sauce, Ravioli and Tiramisu. It was all simply the most delicious fresh food I have ever tasted. Prior to the actual cooking we went on a tour of the San Lorenzo market to buy the fresh ingredients. Let's just say I am throwing out all the crap olive oil I have at home and possibly never buying pasta in a box again since the instructor told Nick his pasta was "perfecto". Yes Nick wins and gets to be our chef from now on....:)
After our class we took on exploring the city center of Florence and also some of the outskirts of town. Of course we added to our miles of walking and enjoyed every moment of it. There are lots of beautiful buildings, museums, churches, the Ponte Vecchio bridge which is full of jewelry shops and the massive marketplace. It is a very good thing I have zero room in my luggage because I probably would have come home with 50 scarfs and a few leather bags. It was a great day for exploring as it was overcast with a nice breeze.
We were stuffed from our cooking class but did go find the two food places that were recommended to us. One was a sandwich place that Michael had been to when he was here "All' Atico Vinaio". We knew we were in the right area when we saw people just sitting on the street curbs eating sandwiches. We couldn't even muster up room to buy one and just taste it we were so full. We also found the "Golden View" restaurant that Michelle and Lizzie recommended but again so full and we were exhausted by the time we headed over to that side of the river.
We are headed to La Spezia today to explore the Cinque Terra area. Hoping to see some Tuscan countryside on the way since our entire trip from Venice was spent on freeways and in very very very long tunnels. I wonder if Bertha dug those because it would have been quite a job they were seriously each one miles long!
More later -
Nick and Barb
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