Trip to Pick up Ryan - Florence, Italy
We stayed the night in our same Tirana Hotel - for the third time since we did a figure 8 around Albania. One last Albanian breakfast before heading to the airport to fly to Italy. I kept taking pictures of Ryan as he boarded the plane to leave Albania after two years. A sad moment for sure.
We landed in Pisa, picked up our rental car and headed straight for our favorite lookout in Florence. Love being able to see the Duomo and the bridge and all of Florence.
The artists weren’t up today - at least ‘mine’ wasn’t here, so that was a bummer but it was fun to look through some of the other carts of touristy things. I think Ryan bought a shirt. So fun to be back in Florence!
Pizza, gelato and walking around the city made it a great afternoon. At 4:00 we headed back to our apartment to take a nap, which felt so good. I’m feeling a little sick right now and worn out from so much walking in the hot August sun.
We were excited to eat dinner at our favorite restaurant in Florence: Trattoria 4 Leoni. We had some of the dishes that we love there - especially enjoying the pear filled ravioli.
The owner comes around to meet everyone as they eat. We recognized him from being here several times before. When he stopped at our table he immediately looked at Ryan’s Albanian shirt and got super excited. We told him we just flew from Albania that very morning and Ryan explained that he had lived there for two years. They spoke Albanian. The owner was thrilled and came back to visit our table several times through our meal. He even sent the waiter back to our table with free wine. Yikes. At the end of our meal the owner wanted to take pictures with us outside and exchange emails with Ryan. It was fun that even outside of Albania Ryan would have a connection to the culture and language he loved. Such a great memory!
A little bit more walking around at night before heading back to our apartment. Time for bed!
We slept in till 8:30 which was good because I needed it! Still feeling a little sick. We got ready pretty quickly and were out the door and right onto the Piazza Michelangelo. I just loved our location. We decided to climb the tower before any lines and it was a great idea. We got a great shot of the Duomo. So fun to see the view from this vantage point.
On the way down we could hear trumpets and drums in the distance. We raced down the stairs and could see a parade of sorts coming into the square. We’re still not sure exactly what it was but it looked very official. Flag bearers, scroll holders and trumpeters were all dressed in brightly colored uniforms. We had a close view and it was really fun.
Once they paraded out of the piazza and down the street we decided to go get some breakfast - 5 Euro fruit cups and a raspberry torte for Chris.
Love these pictures of our square and Ryan standing at the door up to our apartment, right beside a gelato store. Such a fun location. At 11:00 the garage brought over our car and we loaded up our luggage. Then to get out of the Florence downtown we had to drive a huge loop THROUGH the city. We drove right next to the duomo. It was crazy. Inner city driving on cobblestone with so many people tends to worry me a little but Chris loves it and navigates it so well. Once out of the city we set the google maps for Cinque Terre and immediately started listening to Hamilton again. Ryan is hooked.