Travel Tuesday: Florence, Italy

Ever since I heard about Helene's Travel Tuesday link up, I wanted to participate.

I read other people's stories about the places they have been, just so I can live vicariously through them.

I love to travel.

 Just for the weekend or out of the country, I don't care, just get me outta here!

Luckily my mom has the same travel bug that I do, and as a kid I got to travel quite a bit. My junior year (2004) and senior year (2005) in high school my mom and I, and several others, traveled to Italy for spring break. It was that first trip, my junior year, that I fell in love with Florence, Italy.

Fast forward to 2007, and a crazy study abroad opportunity, and there I was landing in Italy again. But, this time with Garrett!

As much as I am making this sound like the perfect trip, it wasn't. 

At first.

When we arrived at baggage claim I was giddy with excitement. We stood at baggage claim for several minutes after the last person had grabbed their bag from the conveyor belt, and my excitement turned into fear.

My bags were lost.

I called my mom from a really complicated pay phone in the airport and cried about my bags being lost and about the lady at the baggage claim desk not understanding anything I was saying. I think it was around 3am in Texas where my mom was, bless her heart!

The funny thing was, during our flight, I kept telling Garrett that I just knew my bags were lost! And I'm not one of those people that says that on every single flight, it was the first time I had had that feeling.

About a week later, and a trip back to the airport, I had my bags. Once hot pink and brand new, they were now covered in black marks and could no longer stand up on their own. Atleast I had my clothes!

Garrett was a much better trooper than I was, one of his bags got lost too but he didn't throw quite the fit that I did. I think it was because it wasn't his main bag and he still had some clothes to wear. Or it was because he handles stressful situations better than me. Either way.

I don't have great pictures to share with you guys. 2007 was before I had a nice camera or a phone that was capable of taking decent pictures. But I'll share the one's that I can find!

G and Ponte Vecchio bridge, which was built in 1345! 

Little did I know I'd be marrying this guy in 3 years! Ok, maybe I kinda knew : )

 Ponte Vecchio is my favorite place in Florence. It offers a great view of the Arno river as well as shops full of beautiful, and expensive, jewelry. At night there are street performers, mainly musicians, that make it a romantic spot.

See that green grass on the left side of the picture? That was where I dreamed of having my wedding. It's a little event location right on the Arno river. Needless to say, it was pretty much impossible to afford or book. This is looking from the Ponte Vecchio bridge.

Basilica of Santa Croce. Right down the road from our apartment!

We found a restaurant called Alfredo's that we ate at several times. We always asked for the same waiter, and he always gave us free Limoncello!

We also ate at our apartment quite a bit. Standa, a grocery store, had such great fresh breads and meats and cheeses. Ahhh we loved that place! We usually cooked pasta at the apartment and had a candle lit dinner.

While there, we were both enrolled in classes. I took ceramics and cooking classes, Garrett took a film class and a Renaissance architecture class.

I loved the ceramics class but, surprisingly, not the cooking class. I think it was because we had to cook in groups and the people in my group were idiots. I'm not just saying that, I got a C in that class because they said our risotto was done before it was. Idiots. And it was around a 30 minute walk every day to get to the cooking school. If I'm going to be walking 30 minutes worth every day, I want to go exploring!

Yes, I do realize how lucky I was to be able to take a cooking class in Italy. It just wasn't my favorite.

And sadly, that's all of the pictures I could find from this trip to Florence. I know I have some back in Texas in photo albums, I wish I had them on this computer or good 'ol Facebook, but I don't.

I wish like hell I could go back there sometime soon, now that I am older and more appreciative of the age of things and the art available. Especially now that I have a nice camera. Oh the hours I would spend just taking pictures!

Italy gives me a feeling of peace and happiness that I have never felt in America. I know that sounds stupid and weird, but it's true. I miss it. A ton.

Linking up with Helene!