Hotel Concorde Florence

... was buzzing with a variety of languages and the overall atmosphere was jubilant and festive. Despite challenges with the "menu", it was a great way to end our visit to Italy. <br><br>We'll retrace our steps through Rome tomorrow and will wind up in London for the night before catching our flight back to San Francisco on Sunday. It was quite fitting to end our journey in Florence, where so much of our current culture emerged centuries ago. <br>

... tons of cars were parked, everyone appreciating the amazing display of architecture in front of us. It was one of those great moments when a mix-up brings great reward.<br><br>The streets to our B&amp;B were tiny and flanked with high stone walls and the flow of traffic was about 20 kph above the limit and it truly felt like our mirror would click with the mirror on the cars we were passing. It was exhilarating. We continued our assent for ...

... rooms they are housed in are amazing - it must have been a truly beautiful place to live when the Medicis lived there. <br><br>After that I had more gelati (I ate A LOT of gelati!) at Vivoli, which is another famous gelaterie. I had dark chocolate, bannana and caramelised pear. So good! <br><br>That was about it really. The next morning I went to the markets to pick up a few things, bought some postcards and then jumped on a train back to Pisa Airport. Of course my ...

... with them and listen to the beautiful language. I love watching the very italian facial and hand gestures. Sometimes I even try to imitate them. They, in turn, have always very graciously helped me with my queries, whether it is "dov'e il stazione?" (where is the station?) or "dov'e il supermercato? (where is the supermarket?)" or "dov'e Via Nazionale?" (where is Nazionale Road?). Most of the time, they have taken their time and gave me painstaking specific directions ...

Rented an apartment in a villa which was at the top of a mountain (like most villas in Tuscany), however, our journey to the top was not on a paved road which made for some challenging driving. The villa was really nice with its own pool and great view over the countryside. The owners also provided fabulous meals in their other ...

... impossible parking spots (they must have to get out the sunroof) also lots of motorbikes. A crazy busy , horn blaring, arm waving, shouting mess. It was a kind of relief after the orderliness, compliance and spick and span of Switzerland. We were about to join it!! We had to pick up the hire car in the middle of this mess at 9am peak hour traffic (is it ever not peak?).<br><br>We actually did ...

... the shredded chicken meat but i was afraid of that stuff. <br><br>we then took some wine to the triangle bridge and sat out there on the opposite side as before so we would have the ponte vecio bridge in our background and it was fun. we just chilled and chatted with each other. when we were finished amanda really wanted gelato from her favorite place so i walked with her there while the girls stayed on the bridge until we got back. when we got back we ...