Europe Recap: Paris Day 1

We spent our final morning in Florence browsing the San Lorenzo markets and visiting the Medici Chapels before taking the train to Pisa and boarding a flight to Paris. While we both were so sad to leave Italy, we could not wait to finish our vacation in the city of lights.

We rented an apartment in Paris right off of Saint Germain on the Left Bank. We loved the location of our apartment and it was perfect for our last 3 nights. It even had a full kitchen and washer and dryer which was completely necessary after 6 days in Italy.

We started our first evening in Paris with wine and cheese at a cafe near our apartment, Le Cafe de Flore. After an afternoon of travel it felt so nice to relax outside of the cafe for over an hour. We then took the metro to the Arc de Triomphe where we climbed all 284 steps to the observation deck on top of the arch. It provided the most incredible view of Paris and was the perfect introduction of the city.

View of La Grande Arche and the business district in the distance

So happy I don't have to drive through this circle everyday! Yikes!

The "little Manhattan" of Paris and La Grande Arche

We got great views of the Eiffel Tower from the deck.

My first time seeing it!

One of my favorite pictures from the trip.

Sacre-Coeur and Montmarte in the distance.

I'm so happy we started our weekend in Paris in this very spot.

After returning to the bottom of the Arc de Triomphe, we made our way down the Champs-Elysees.

VABeau insisted we stop at the most profitable McDonalds in the World which happens to be on the Champs-Elysees. I gave in because they actually sold macaroons! Take note American McDonalds!

But they could not compete with the most delicious macaroons in the whole World. Those from Laduree. This was our first but definitely not our last visit to a Laduree store over the weekend.

After having our fill of walking and window shopping we headed to the Marais neighborhood for dinner at Les Bonnes Soeurs. This cozy restaurant was amazing. VABeau had the steak and frites and I had the most delicious mushroom risotto. Add in some fabulous red wine and creme brulee and we were in heaven!

Stay tuned for our first full day in Paris!

Europe Recap: Florence Day 2

Our second day in Florence started with espressos and nutella croissants yet again (a serious addiction was developing). We then headed to the Accademia where we had a 10:30 reservation. Once inside we went straight to Michaelangelo's incredible sculpture of David. He was breathtaking and the light shining on him from the skylight above only intensified the impressiveness of this statue. After several minutes of ogling David and his incredible bod we set out to explore the rest of the museum. I also enjoyed Michaelangelo's Prisoners but other than that there really wasn't much else to see. Less than an hour later we were out of the museum and ready to explore Florence.

We wandered through the outdoor San Lorenzo market full of leather goods, pashminas, and other souvenirs. We then stopped in Mercato Centrale for fresh cheese, meat, and bread before crossing the Ponte Vecchio and making our way to the Pitti Palace. Normally we wouldn't have included the Pitti Palace but with free entrance to it's galleries and gardens, we couldn't resist. The palace was huge and incredibly ornate inside. We spent about an hour wandering around the Palatine Gallery before heading out to the gardens to enjoy the gorgeous afternoon.

View of Florence from the Boboli Gardens

The back of Pitti Palace

The Beautiful Boboli Gardens

The climb to the top of the gardens is totally worth it for the view of the palace and mountains.

One of the few pictures of the two of us together!

We had a lunch of the meat, cheese, and bread we bought earlier and soaked up the sun.

Florence beyond the palace.

Heaven on Earth

After a great afternoon in the gardens we headed back into the city. After a little shopping on the Ponte Vecchio, we caught the bus to Piazzale Michaelangelo. Our friends Neil and Elise highly recommended this spot for a view of beautiful Florence. It was so romantic and provided a stunning view!

It was also crowded with people armed with wine and beer also hoping to catch the sunset.

Beautiful Florence...

I miss you already.

Second shot of the two of us of the day! So happy I got to experience this view with him.

We walked down the hill from the Piazzale and stopped at an Enoteca for some vino before making our way back into the city for dinner.

Ponte Vecchio at night!

We have the Nordstroms Cafe, they have the Robert Cavalli Cafe. Not fair!

We finished our evening with dinner at Trattoria Trebbio where we shared a caprese salad, rabbit pasta, meatballs, and their house wine. The small and cozy trattoria was perfect for our last night in Italy!

Europe Recap: Florence Day 1

Tuesday morning started with a couple of espressos, nutella croissants, and a 75 minute Rapide bus ride through Tuscany. By 11:00 am we were officially in Florence! Our hotel, Il Ghiro was perfect for our two night stay and was within walking distance of everything! The four flights of stairs to said hotel, however, had me beyond thankful that we brought backpacks as opposed to suitcases!

We dropped off our bags and headed to the Uffizi Gallery for our 12:00 reservation. Once again the museum was free due to culture week and we were more than happy to pay the $2 reservation fee to skip the lines. Within minutes we were inside and starting our Rick Steves pod cast tour of the museum. VABeau had been anti-pod casts and preferred to "just enjoy the museums without commentary" until we met Rick Steves the day before. Suddenly he was more than happy to listen to the pod casts which were so helpful and gave us tons of background on the paintings we saw. We started with the Medieval Italian art which led into the art of the Renaissance. We saw works by Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo (The Ninja Turtles according to VABeau), Boticelli, etc. My favorite had to be Boticelli's Birth of Venus. The museum also offered my first view of the Ponte Vecchio through a window. It was stunning! I really enjoyed the Uffizi and seeing how the Renaissance started in Florence through it's art.

After the museum we spent some time in a square admiring the Santa Croce Church

where we encountered the best street performers yet. This band was fantastic and I could have spent all day in the square enjoying them. But we were starving so we heading to Trattoria ZaZa instead. We sat outside and carbo loaded with a pesto pasta dish and pizza.

After lunch it was time to check out the centerpiece of Florence, the Duomo.

The dome was impressive. It's hard to believe they actually built the Duomo and left the top open in hopes that one day someone would figure out how to build a dome.

While I would have loved to join these people at the top of the dome, we decided to pass on the mile long line and check out the inside of the Duomo instead.

Are you sick of seeing churches on these recaps yet?
The famous Renaissance dome.

The bronze doors of the Baptistery

I could not get enough of the beautiful Easter displays all over Italy.

After a semi-productive day we took a break in front of the Church of Santa Maria Novella before heading to the Arno River

for another view of that beautiful bridge

After a break back at our hotel we ventured out again for dinner and drinks.

But first we had to get a few pictures of the Duomo on such a gorgeous night.

We had reservations for dinner at 9:30 but wanted to grab a drink beforehand nearby. We wandered the streets until we found the perfect spot. All'Antico Vinato is a wine store that serves wine by the glass and it's customers spill out into the streets. When we saw a huge group of Italians sipping wine on the sidewalk, we knew this was the place to get a great glass of wine. Our chianti was amazing but the experience of drinking it just standing outside with locals could not be beat.

We then headed to Aqua Al 2 for dinner. This was the one restaurant we knew we were going to as soon as we booked our flights.

It originated in Florence but has since opened 2 other restaurants in San Diego and DC.

We had their delicious house wine of course. Aqua Al 2 is known for it's sampler platters for each course. We split the pasta, meat, and dessert samplers. It was all incredible. Our meat course included a blueberry filet which I will never ever forget! It was quite possibly the best steak I have ever eaten.

as you can see the desserts were pretty incredible as well. It was the perfect slow paced meal and we did not leave the restaurant until after midnight!

Our first dinner in Florence was incredible and we cannot wait to visit the DC Aqua Al 2 to see if it comes close to the original!