My majestical day in Florence

I'll have to fill in the missing dates sometime in the near future but for now want to describe my perfectly beautiful day in Florence today...

I slept in today which in my dodgy hotel room here at the Hotel Piccolo is both not surprising (think windowless cave) and also a miracle (think really hot room with allegedly working AC and paper thin walls). First stop today was to the train station to get my ticket to Venice tomorrow - talk about memories from the numerous times I was there during the 9 weeks when I studied here 12 years ago! After successfully getting my ticket at the self-service machine (I hope!) I then rented a bike and headed out of town on a route the bike company (Florence by bike - highly recommend) suggested to a town called Fiesole. I think it's just over 5 miles outside of town but about 1000 feet high so it made for a challenging ride for this recently inspired but still novice bicyclist...

It was hot and I was drenched by the time I made it to the city square but holy cow, it was gorgeous! Unfortunately I didn't have my camera but the mental images will stay with me forever. I had gorgeous views of Florence and the Tuscan countryside - I could even see a storm approaching (and could hear the thunder) so I knew to keep my stay in town short and ride back before I was drenched in the middle of nowhere. I also found a park with a few swings and was "caught" by a couple of people walking by and as I swung like the happy little adolescent that I still am at heart!

I relaxed in my cubby hole room for a while when I got back as the "storm" hit Florence (don't have any clue how much it actually rained since I was secure in my windowless room here) and then headed back out around 6:30. I wanted to pick up a few things and then hopefully make it to one of my favorite parts of town the Piazza Michaelangelo at my favorite part of the day (dusk!). For those of you who have never been to Florence, this piazza and church is across the arno (river) and nestled on a high hill with absolutely gorgeous views of the city and Tuscan hills. Needless to say, the pics speak for themselves and once I post them you will see exactly why that area of the city is a little slice of heaven. Absolutely spectacular...

I was then going to go to dinner at one of my old favorite spots (Aqua al 2) that I randomly remembered after googling recommended restaurants but once I finally found the restaurant it was getting late, the line was long, I was hungry and just plopped into a piazza nearby for some food. I was a little frustrated, wanting my last meal in Florence to be spectacular BUT, within a few minutes of sitting down at this random restaurant in one of my favorite piazzas (Piazza dela Signoria), I heard some live music from around the corner and low and behold, the man was playing a VERY special song to me - Father and Daughter. What a moment! I was almost in tears and knew that I was exactly where I was supposed to be. So, after an average meal, some limoncello and gelato, I am "home"...feeling extremely grateful to be here, sad to be leaving tomorrow and yet again reminded that life is the journey, not the destination. Just finished web camming with my sis and precious nephew Casey who I will be seeing in Boston in a mere 4 days - kinda crazy to even think about!! Now for some shut eye, I hope and plan to get up "early" (as in maybe around 9) to enjoy my last few hours in this beautiful city that will always hold a piece of my heart.

I'm still alive!!

...for any of you that may have been wondering, yes - I am still alive! There is so much to catch up on that I don't even really know where to begin...it may take a few posts but I'll give it a shot to get as much in as possible (I am in Florence right now and trying to cram in 20 things I want to do into 2 days so...)

Let's see...I think I left off at the end of July when I was nearing my time in Barcelona and preparing for Walt to visit. He came to town on July 31st, miraculously making all 3 of his flights and arriving to Barca on time. We had a really fun 5 days together in Spain - a perfect ending to my time there. Par for the course, we spent a lot of time on the beach, even more time eating and drinking our way through the city and also running almost every day on the beach. We also rented bikes one day and headed to my little beach town Badalona. Had a minor glitch when I biked over a tack that popped a tire - oops! Thankfully it happened near a train station which got us partially back to the city. Channeling Lance and being the rockstar cyclist that he is, Walt managed to ride home the rest of the way in spite of the flat tire (shh...don't tell the guy we rented it from!)...

On August 5th I packed up my things (after 5 weeks it was a little bit of a nightmare), we went to the airport to pick up our rental car and started driving north to France. My friends Jim & Meri had recommended a B&B "La Dolce Vita" in a town called Azille where they had spent a few days of their honeymoon a few years ago (Jim is related to the owner Natalie, a very interesting woman who is originally from Seattle but has lived in numerous areas of Europe for many years). It was about a 2 1/2 hour drive from Barcelona but felt like an entirely different world - going from the madness of "barcaloca" (as we somewhat affectionately nicknamed it) the tranquility of the French countryside. From the first minute, we absolutely fell in love with France. I can't begin to describe the sense of peace and happiness I felt instantaneously in Azille. It's a tiny town in the middle of the Minervois wine country. There is one restaurant called "Bar" and finding an open store for cold water in the middle of the afternoon was nothing short of a miracle.

We had 2 nights there but really only 1 full day - we first went running through the vineyards and then went back to enjoy their products - amazing French wine! We also had the most spectacular meal in a town called La Livierne which is a few km from Azille. It was a great story - the owner of one of the wineries had recommended it to us but when we arrived, they were completely booked for the night. One man at a table overheard our plea and somehow convinced them to set up another table from us - there was one table not being used inside the restaurant so they brought it out to the courtyard and set it up for us. We were in shock at our good fortune and kindness of the staff. They were so friendly and our 4 course meal was fabulous. The experience overall was truly magical! If you're ever in the area you MUST go to the restaurant - Les Meulieres.

Natalie only had room for us for one night so the 2nd night she hooked us up with a room in another woman's home - she isn't technically a B&B but could accommodate us. And, we loved this place even more. This old French woman had recently restored this mansion and randomly rented out rooms when needed. Her son and his family was visiting and overall the family was so welcoming and contributed the peaceful, loving feeling we had in the town. Truly unforgettable.

On Friday August 7th we headed up to Nice, France - about a 4 hour drive from Azille. I had been there once on my other trip to Europe 12 years ago because my good friend Suzanne was studying there. It was just as beautiful as I remembered and we had a wonderful time! More amazing food, beautiful views and kind people everywhere we went. I will go on record to debunk the myth that French people are snobby and rude - every single one we met was genuinely kind and so helpful. Unfortunately we were both lacking any sense of direction in Nice and spent much of our time in the car making u-turns and backtracking but while frustrating at the time, we can both laugh about the numerous detours and debacles now.

After 2 nights in Nice we headed an hour south down to Saint Raphael, a beach town just outside of St. Tropez, which is where we were originally going to go but due to a lack of lodging ended up nearby. Which, as we had somewhat become accustomed to, was a blessing in disguise. St. Raphael was beautiful and yet again, we enjoyed amazing food & wine and very kind people. Thank goodness for our nearly daily runs otherwise I'd be need to buy a whole new wardrobe upon my return to the States!

Well, I still have some exploring and reminiscing I need to do in this amazing city of Florence before I take the train to Venice tomorrow so I'll pick up where I left off as soon as I can (hopefully later tonight). Ciao for now! I hope this finds you all happy & well!!