After Paris we took a train to Florence Italy. It was an overnight trip, so we saved on a hotel for one night as well. I highly recommend this not only to save a bit of money, but to see the gorgeous countryside along the way (but keep in mind that it is crowded and bring your own food).
The train was an adventure in itself. We were in a six passenger cart. The other four people were two giggling Italian women (best friends from what it looked like) and a very quiet, elderly Vietnamese couple. Valentina and Franchella spoke a tiny bit of English but no Vietnamese, Ho and Chi spoke absolutely no English or Italian, and David and I speak neither Italian nor Vietnamese. Try to imagine this scene of six very different people sitting close to each other, practically staring at each other because of the cross seating, and not being able to communicate as a group. Well, I started dozing off and awoke to the little Vietnamese lady screaming and rubbing her head. Franchella's plastic bag had fallen from the top bunk. Chi (or Ho? I can't remember which one is a lady's name!) kept rubbing her head and making faces as if she was in a lot of pain. So, Valentina went for help and came back with a French doctor (didn't seem much of a Doctor to us), his French friend, and a first aid kit. They didn't speak any other language than French, so there were now eight of us trying to communicate in four different languages. The doctor's friend picked up the plastic bag and made a big French grunt (you know what I mean... the stereotypical French noise... imagine the candlestick from Beauty and the Beast) and rolled his eyes at the weight of the bag. The bag had contained two magazines and a small bag of Lays potato chips. David and I literally had to bite our lips not to laugh after he made his little grunt. Then the French doctor rummaged through the first aid kit and finally found what he had been looking for. An alcohol swab. There was no break in the skin- no blood- not even a bump yet he still insisted that she used this alcohol swab. Finally she started to pat it on her head with a confused look on her face and they all left. It was sooooo funny.
We arrived in Florence early the next morning.
We loved....
That everything was located in one square. We didn't have to take any public transportation anywhere- it was all outside our hotel. It's small and intimate and our three day stay was just the right amount of time.
Gorgeous countryside. We saw this when we did our Tuscany bike tour. It started out at a castle on vineyard where they make wines and olive oils. We then rode bikes for about 9 miles to a tucked away Italian restaurant and rode back to the castle. There was a huge hill at the end of the ride. Most of the group didn't even attempt it and took the van, half of them attempted it and then came in the van halfway, some walked their bikes up, and a few of them rode all the way to the top- including my husband! At first I saw that he was towards the back of the group going up and I felt bad for him since he was slower than them, then he ended up passing them because he had paced himself but the others did not! They all had to get in the car and I was secretly so proud of David.
Beautiful architecture. I've always wanted a Spanish style house, but I've changed my mind and now want to find inspiration from the Tuscan style. Also, in the video there are some clips of the most adorable bridge in the world. There are little shops built on the side of it that hang over the water.
Delicious pizza and tons of gelato!
Cheaper prices than Paris (gatorade for 33 euro cents! They were on sale and I was so happy about this).
People riding bikes everywhere.
The smell of the leather stores.
Walks down cobble stone streets.
Next post will be a short one about Pisa, Italy.
Can anyone think of the classic chick flick where the main character wants nothing more but to go to Florence? (Take a guess!) I can probably quote that movie from the beginning until the end. My sister thinks we went to Florence just because of that movie, but she was wrong. The main reason we went there was because all of our Italian friends in Grand Cayman highly recommended it. Someday we'll tour the rest of Italy, but feel that Florence was a wonderful place to start.
15 comments:
so dreamy! you are so lucky you got to do this! such great adventures for you to tell baby boy when you tuck him in at night.
oh, and the videos...absolutely priceless!! these will be treasures for you to look back on. david is so talented. you guys are too cute and sooo perfect for eachother!
Another amazing video - My favorite part was when you both were sitting on the curb eating Gelato or something and then all the people started walking in front of you. it'll be so great to have these videos to remember your trip.
Such a funny story about the train ride and the overdramatic lady.
- Amy
Your trip looks like so much fun! I would love to do that with Nate someday.
And I don't know about getting pregnant any time too soon. I'm kinda liking the newlywed stage a little too much. Let's play whenever. I'm not sure what your schedule is, but we could do Sunday dinner or something. Or let's do something you have missed about Utah while you've been gone-- I'm sure there is SO much ;)
Loved the videos. So jealous.
How gorgeous! Shalynna, I'm so impressed that you rode a bike pregnant - for some reason I was really scared to, even when I wasn't that big yet. I don't know why...really lame now that I think about it.
Is the movie Return to Me? With Minnie Driver and David Duchovny?
David is quite talented with his videos/picture stuff! Love reading about your adventure
I'm guessing Return to Me also! I used to watch that movie all the time, love it! That video was the cutest thing I've ever seen, what a dream!
I was thinking the movie was "While You Were Sleeping," but now that I see other people writing about return to me, I think they're probably right.
ANYWAY...I have been meaning to comment on both your posts---your Paris video just BLEW ME OUT OF THE WATER (you can tell David that I made Kyle watch it and he was both impressed and slightly jealous that David had come up with something so brilliant. Also, he wants to know what you used to take video---was it a separate camera altogether, or combined with your SLR?).
For this post itself, I want to say that I am in LOVE with the way you set up the camera at the beginning---I watched it a bunch of times just to see all the sweet european shoes walking by. And hello, dancing in the street? Umm...amazing. You guys are like, the ultimate couple.
Doing Europe with my husband has always been a dream of mine, but Kyle has never been that excited about it. I hope now that he sees how AMAZING it can be, he will want to do it. The sooner the better, I say.
Camille, you were right! Sandra Bullock in While You Were Sleeping dreams about going to Florence. Becky and Jenna, nice try. :) Return to Me is a favorite too, but I don't think she ends up going to Florence. I think she goes to Rome?? Thanks for the sweet comments girls!
shalynna these videos are absolutely darling!! i can't get over them! and you, of course, look adorable!
this post gave me warm fuzzies. its sooooo dreamy and lovely. you are so gorgeous sha, i mean you really are. im so happy you two lovebirds got to do this together before the arrival of little sugar. you two are the sweetest couple to have ever graced my presence, and possibly florence too. ;) i love you!
Shalynna! Love all of your pictures and the videos are awesome. So funny...when I was watching the Florence video, I was wearing the tank top you are wearing in the last scene (the one we both have from Target). Ha! I thought that was funny!
LOVE your stories...the first one was hilarious :) Can't wait for more of your posts.
so i just showed my david that video and he laughed so hard at that part in the beginning where your david is laughing...he said it looks just like him. it was cute, i think he has a man crush on your husband :)
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