Family Weekend

We met up with some family in Florence who were also visiting Italy. We drove from our home in Borgo San Lorenzo as far into Florence as we could and parked. Central Florence is restricted to traffic and you need a special permit to enter the historic area. Sunday are the only time the traffic cameras are off and you are allowed to enter the area. But even with that allowance, I would not want to drive nor be a passenger in a car travelling in central Florence.

 

After a lovely meal we ventured outside in search of gelato which is not hard to find. If you thought there were too many Starbucks in some cities to the point of one on almost every corner, Florence streets have at least one gelatoria every 20 steps. So if you didn’t like the gelato flavors you just picked, take a few breaths and you’ll soon be at the next gelatoria ready to select your next two flavors.

 

It was well after 9pm when we finally made it outdoors. It was Saturday and a mild June night, so it was expected that many people would be out and about. But I didn’t expect everyone to be out. From tourists to residents, from teenagers to grandparents it appeared as if everyone decided to descend upon Florence that night. We each got our two flavors and took a quick stroll to the Duomo before heading down to check out the Arno strategically moving through crowds. 45 minutes later we were back in the car heading home and thankful that we couldn’t drive into the historic center of Florence for we would still be trying to navigate out of the city dodging pedestrians and shimmying down some very narrow streets.

 

The next day, we reciprocated and invited the family out to the countryside. They took the train from Florence and we met then at the Borgo station. Fritz had been cooking for two days so we had plenty of food on hand and many libations to pour. It had rained ferociously hours before they arrived and I was worried that the day would be spent indoors. Luckily the rain stopped, the clouds disappeared and the sun made its presence all in all making for a wonderful day of eating and spending time with family.

But, between all the catching up and drinking and eating, I was remiss to take any pics, except for a sole photo of Chris’ dinner that he cooked for us Saturday night in Florence. It consisted of gnocchi, sausage and an abundance of fresh vegetables dressed with a sprinkle of parmesan and a sprig of basil. It was delish!