6:00 PM

My First Trip Ever to Italy and Some Impressions Part 1

Hi there! I haven’t been around for a while. I am sorry about that, but I have what I think is a good reason. I went to Italy! Remember when I told you I had something fun going on that I would eventually tell you about? Well, my husband and I went to Italy for the first time ever along with our son and his family. It was fantastic! Unfortunately, it took me over a week to get past the jet lag and another week to catch up on regular life and its schedule but, I am finally back to share my trip with you!

Originally when I started to write this post, I began by telling you every detail of the trip. Even I was getting bored with that :). So, I have decided to edit my comments down a bit and simply share some of the highlights.

A key ingredient to our decision to visit Italy, specifically Florence, was that our granddaughter Julia was studying there for the semester and we wanted to see her. That, of course, was the highlight of the trip but Italy captured our hearts in the ten days we were there to an extent we never could have imagined.

Florence is an amazing city with history coming out of its ears! So much so, that I have already decided we need to go back because we missed so much! However, I do have impressions and experiences of this trip we took that I can tell you about.

The Florence hotel where we stayed was called the Frame Hotel. Its claim to fame is that years and years ago a man stole the Mona Lisa painting and hid it in the Frame Hotel. He eventually was arrested, and the painting was returned and now resides in the Louvre in Paris. The hotel is filled with modern interpretations of that painting. The hotel itself is small but is a very friendly place with a perfect location in the city. We were able to walk to wherever we wanted. We were steps away from the Duomo and the center with all its beauty and busyness. I loved walking there, something we did everyday no matter what. In reference to the friendliness of the hotel, I ended up hugging the woman, Martina, who managed the complimentary breakfast each morning. She was a love and made our morning meal a pleasure.

My son, Sam, and his wife, Jessica, employed a travel agent to plan our trip. Every detail was attended to, which was terrific because we might have been lost in every way, otherwise. The plan was to take three days and, at our leisure, tour Florence and get over the jet lag. Unfortunately, that did not work all that well for me. I did not sleep well for most of the trip. That was not the fault of Italy, of course, just my own personal problem. I did rally each day and thoroughly enjoyed the sites and activities.

View of the Ponte Vecchio Bridge

Julia was our tour guide in Florence, and we were able to tour all sorts of sites. The first day we walked down a pretty avenue with high-end shops to view the Ponte Vecchio Bridge. We walked over it a few days later. Also, on that first day we walked over the Ponte Bridge and had a midday pastry snack at a cafe.

I did a very “Gramma” thing to my family on this trip. Every time I had Googled Florence in anticipation of our trip a garden with an arbor of blooming wisteria would appear. I told my kids if I saw nothing else, I wanted to see that archway. That became a sight problem because we mistakenly thought that attraction was at the Boboli Garden at the Pitti Palace.

Pitti Palace

Ceiling at Pitti Palace

Pitti Palace

We never found the wisteria arbor in the Boboli Garden but the Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens were beautiful. We were rushed that day because we had early dinner reservations but the artwork in the Palace was absolutely gorgeous and inspiring.

My family at a different dinner reservation minus Julia who had to study that evening.

A walkway up to the Bardini Garden

Another view of the Arbor

There was more to see than just wisteria

The wisteria archway was actually at the Bardini Garden, which meant another long, long walk within the city for all of us. My lovely family appeased me, and we visited the Bardini Garden after having a lovely lunch on top of the hill at the Michaelangelo Park where we got some beautiful photos.

A G-rated Photo of the fake David at Michaelangelo Park

I wanted to tour the landmarks in the center of Florence near our hotel but, unfortunately the Duomo was booked the whole time we were there. For some reason the travel agent had not addressed seeing the Duomo or the other attractions near it, probably for the reason I already mentioned...no stress while recovering from jet lag. We never got into those buildings, something I would have loved to do. I have decided we need to go back and finish what we missed, not a hard task to imagine. I do, however, have photos of the center to share with you.

The church at the Piazza Duomo

More sites in the center

The Duomo at night

A pretty restaurant in the center I admired

Later in the week we toured the Accademia Gallery to see the real David. (I do not have a G-Rated photo of that statue.) It was a thrill to see such a famous sculpture and learn a little bit about the Medici family. I had seen the Netflix series and was all into the Medicis. I need to go back and learn more about them on my next trip.

This is my first installment on my trip to Italy. I am finding it much harder than I thought to collect, edit and categorize the photos so, future installments might take a little longer than I originally had thought. Please stay tuned, however. I will get there.

I will finish with a family photo including my granddaughter, Julia. I hope you don't mind :).

I always seem to be making funny faces in these photos :/.