A Weekend in Florence

We have just returned from Florence, where we met my parents for a long weekend and had a fabulous time! This is also a time for Brad and I to relax after the long busy season. We arrived in Florence on Thursday morning and headed straight to the hotel. We were staying at the Westin Excelsior which is in a great area of the city and right on the river. Once my parents arrived, we walked to the center of the city for lunch. We stumbled upon a small sandwich shop and then walked up to the Duomo. Brad and I climbed the stairs up to the top. It was a long walk, but it was certainly worth it once we got to the top. The views of Florence were spectacular. Later that evening, we had dinner at a great wine bar (Ristorante Gustavino). There was a small mishap at dinner, the waitress managed to spill a glass of wine all over Brad. They were more than gracious and helped to get the stains out and offered free food and wine. They were so charming that we all left perfectly happy.

Friday may have been our favorite day of the trip. We took a car outside the city and visited San Gimingano and Siena. Both are adorable towns with a lot of history and charm. The rolling hills of Tuscany reminded Brad and I of Napa Valley. The highlight of the day was a tasting at the Torciano winery. This was very different (in a good way) than any tasting we have ever experienced in California. The owner of the winery sat with us for the entire two hour tasting, talking us through each of the wines he was presenting. There must have been at least 10 glasses in front of all of us. They paired the wine with four delicious courses for lunch. The first course was a simple salad with cheese and nuts, the second was a Tuscan bread soup that was fantastic, then came the homemade Lasagna with truffle oil, and finally biscottis for dessert. We were so happy with the tasting that we had to purchase some wine. We can’t wait for it to arrive! Once we returned to the city we were all a bit tired and just had dinner in the hotel restaurant.

We started Saturday at the brunch at the hotel. I think Brad is in love with the selection of meats that they offer, he is always excited to head downstairs for brunch. We spent the day walking around Florence and found a wonderful place for lunch (fuori porta). After lunch, we walked up to the Piazza di Michelangiolo, which offered a great view of the city. We stopped for some gelato on our walk back to the hotel, it lives up to the reputation. For dinner, we went to Pandemonium, which was certainly a place we would visit again.

On Sunday, we toured both the Accademia and Uffizi Gallery which are “must sees” when you are in Florence. We spent about an hour in each, which seemed to be about the right amount of time to see the famous paintings and sculptures. In the evening, we found a fantastic wine bar near the hotel (Sei Divino). We couldn’t believe that we just found this bar on our last day in Florence. When we are back in Florence we are certainly going to return here. We got a great recommendation for dinner, L’Osteria di Giovanni, which was a perfect way to end our trip.