I just shared a gallery of photos from the Rome portion my recent Christmas/New Year’s trip to Italy, and now I’m ready to post a few more faves from perhaps the most enchanting city on the planet, Florence, Italy.

After a few days in Rome, my family and I hopped onto a Trenitalia train, for the quick trek up to Tuscany. All in all, the train trip (which FYI was direct, meaning there were no stops) was under two hours and the scenery was gorgeous.

After spending the Rome leg of our adventure in a hotel, we decided to rent an apartment in Florence, which we found on an AMAZING site called AirBandB. We stayed right by the Palazzo Pitti, which almost reminds of a smaller scale version of Versailles in France, but just as impressive and gorgeous. Sites like AirBandB make traveling a completley fresh experience and give the more adventurous types the opportunity to really get an authentic feel for a city and pretend they’re natives. Plus, staying in an apartment gives travelers the opportutnity to do my absolutely FAVORITE thing to do in any new city, domestic or international…go to the grocery store!!!I don’t enjoy cooking (weird I know) but I love visitng grocery stores, because that’s where the real locals are and I love seeing random items that we don’t have in LA.

Long story short: go visit Florence. Lazily walk the streets all day. Have some vino. Actually, have several bottles of vino. Eat at my favorite restaurant ever, Aqua al 2 and do the tasting menu. Eat dinner for 5 hours. Take your time. Window shop at the Ponte Vecchio. Say what’s up to one of the impressive works of art on earth, the David. Basically, just soak it all in. Oh, and eat cheese. Eat a lot of cheese. Lastly, and most importantly, walk past the Duomo as many times as you can each day. Walking past 5 times? Not enough. Go for ten. Go for twenty walk-byes if you can…and proclaim the same thing as my sister “oh no – it’s the Du-o-mo!”

The Duomo.

Oh no, it’s the Duomo.

Duomo, up-close and personal.

I love this photo mostly because of the couple fully making out on the right side. LOL!

My parents at the Duomo.

Christmas decorated streets of Florence. Beautiful…

 

Ponte Vecchio.

Palazzo Pitti.

Cozy at the Palazzo Pitti. I love not having to get ready for work 🙂

Walking through Palazzo Pitti to see gorgeous views.

Sisters!

My parents thought they were basically on their honeymoon….haha!

More Palazzo Pitti (0bviously I loved the grounds here).

Palazzo Pitti. Just your basic Renaissance back yard.

 

Back side of Palazzo Pitti. Tuscany at it’s best.

Olive trees galore.

Gorgeous view taken from Ponte Vecchio.

Beautiful view from standing on Ponte Vecchio.

Another must visit for it’s views – atop the Piazza Michelangelo. Complete view of Florence.