Lady Florence

We traned from Cinque Terre to Florence, excited to see the sites in the city!  So far, we had been in Tuscany for a week, and on the coast for a few days.  

It was now time to get down to business

 Made it to our hotel...Hotel Pendini!  Right in the heart of Piazza Republica!  

So awesome!

 We set on foot to see as much as we could, as we only had a few days in Florence.

 Me...and the backside of a duomo.

Nick took this shot without me knowing.  The lighting turned out SO AWESOME!

 No words needed.

 Lunch! Check out the meat above Nick's head.  Now, that's my kind of place! Hahaha...

 Piazza Republica.

Our hotel is in the background, to the right of arch...called Pensione Pendini.

I loved this piazza.

There was so much going on at all times.

 A little night music?

 So the painted face guy was upset because these street vendors took over the spot that he usually performs his show.  There was a lot of screaming going on.  He was not happy.

 There was also a lot of arm throwing going on.  He's throwing down right here with the street vendor.

Ah...Piazza Republica...always a good show.

 This is one of our favorite shots of the trip.

 This IS our favorite shot of the trip.  Seriously.  Click on this photo to enlarge it.  How did we happen to capture this moment in time?  What a souvenir!  

 Sunset walk along the river

 Nick caught this shot of bugs flying around the walkway light.

 Where are we?  

Why, an Irish Pub, of course!

Next up? Day 2-Florence

More Manarola!

 Lemons!  We wanted so badly to pick one, but we kept our hands to ourselves like good Scaccos

 Checking out the ocean from Via Belvedere

 Dinner on the lanai

 As we were sitting there, a very interesting tour boat came into the bay...

 So we had to get a closer look

 ...and a closer look...

Nick spotted the Hawkeyes flag from far away and needed to confirm.

 There's Angelo.  He runs the tour, apparently.  We were super curious about what the tour consisted of...so we googled it.

Not many people had good reviews of Angelo's Tours.

Very expensive, they say.

Small boat, they say.

Angelo is not as friendly as they say, they say.

Good thing we didn't pay 500 EUROS to go on the tour.

 There's a shot inside Nona's kitchen...next door to our lanai.

 Getting a kick out of reading about Angelo's tours.

TGFK...Thank God for Kindle

 Our last sunset in Manarola

 The morning we left was the most clear, beautiful morning we had experienced.  

So we sat on the lanai, of course!

These two were cracking me up.  The man didn't row at all.  hehehe.

Next up? FLORENCE!

Hiking from Monterosso to Vernaza

A 1/2 liter of white wine and a load of pasta later, we were ready to hike...

Seriously...

What were we thinking?

Wine before a hike?

 Can you see the people sunbathing on the cliff ledge?  Look closely...they're on a blue towel.  

Who does that? 

 Buh-bye Monterosso!  You were cool, but a bit too crowded for our liking.

 Maybe we should have brought some water with us...uh....

 Firefly!  So pretty!

 Me...trying to figure out how to set the timer on our new camera.  Look at Nick's face...hahaha.

 Got it!  Check out my pasta belly...oh man...that's not good.  Better keep hiking.

 There were ALOT of steps on this hiking path.

Not that I mind steps, but I like the ones going down better than the ones going up.

 Nick, practicing his favorite dance move (that he learned on the Wii) called "The Whisper"

 Ah! Vernazza!  There you are!

 Took the train back home...tired, but full of life from an awesome day!  

 This seems to be a pattern. Here's picture #2 of me trying to figure out the camera timer.  Again, check out Nick's face.  HAHAHAH

Now that's a pair of happy Scaccos.

Next up? One last sunset on the coast.