Florence, Italy

I didn't really think I would care much for Florence because, well I don't know why. Maybe I thought I was kinda over beautiful sunsets, incredible sculptures around every corner and wacky cathedrals. But of course I was wrong and I loved it. But we were only booked for three days and to stay longer would mean canceling our train ticket (which you can't do, so we would have just said goodbye to $100 or more or less I can't remember), changing our airbnb booking and moving out of our apartment right down town into a hostel across town because everything else was booked. So we decided to just move onto Rome as planned and then come back to Florence if we were still interested.

This keeps happening, we book a place and then love it and want to stay forever. But if we did that, we would have missed so many amazing things! And I actually kind of love this way of traveling. Every time I get to a new city it is so exciting and fresh and new! I am looking at this as getting just a taste of these places. We come for a short while and see a few of the sights, eat some all of the food and walk walk walk all over the city. I know 3 days or a week or two weeks isn't enough to really dive into a place and I wish we had more time. But three months for Europe is nothing and I've never been here before and there are so many places I want to visit! So anyway I keep reminding myself this is my first trip of many over here.

Also, did you know traveling is expensive? Before we left I spent a lot of time researching travel costs for different countries and came up with a really reasonable budget. And we have been able to keep on budget (I'm shocked, honestly) by doing a lot of little things like cooking more than eating out and researching which museums/tourist attractions we really wanted to see (because most of them carry a pretty hefty price tag). But anyway, I feel ready to move to a slightly cheaper area. Because maybe I made our budget a little too big? I dunno. I think spending this much money is just STRESSFUL, whether or not it is budgeted for. Maybe I am really a frugal spendthrift at heart? (LOL, no.) So yeah, we are heading to Greece on Saturday. I already booked out apartment and it is less than half the price we have been paying everywhere else. Seriously cheap. BUT this means we are going to be in Greece for like a month!? Which goes against my whole loving to move around, just getting a taste for this travel philosophy. Which is a bummer. But on the upside, being in a cheaper area means we can rent a car, eat out everywhere, pay to see more things and STILL stay on budget. Or we might just keep being really cheap and return home under budget (my new goal).

How did I get on this tangent? Oh yeah, so anyway we aren't going back to Florence this trip which is a shame BUT it just means next time we come to Italy we will have a lot to do and see.

Too many words, not enough pictures!

Oh wait I HAVE to talk about this pizza for a minute. OMG so amazing. If you are ever in Florence you absolutely have to go to Gusta Pizza. It. Is. Amazing. The best pizza I have ever had and I have had a lot of pizza in my time. The crust is just a little charred and perfectly chewy, the toppings are fresh and the sauce... Uuuhhhggg the sauce. So simple and light and salty and other good things. I need to learn how to make pizza like this so that when I am old and not long for this world, I can devote my remaining weeks/days/hours to eating this pizza. Or I guess I can just move to Florence and have my hospital bed put inside Gusta Pizza. I'll figure it out. Anyway. I have heard people say "Oh, all pizza is good in Italy." This is a lie. Before I had Gusta Pizza I would have agreed. Because we had some decent pizza that wasn't Gusta. But all pizza AFTER Gusta is ruined for me. RUINED. Just, trust me on this one.

Oh yeah, so this a view from half way up this bell tower we went to. I think I have pictures from the top also, but after climbing 400+ steps I was kind of delirious and ready to pass out so I can't remember.

This was a mediocre pizza from someplace that was NOT Gusta Pizza. If I hadn't had Gusta just the day before, I would have thought this pizza was amazing! Way better than any pizza I have found in Portland. But post-Gusta it was just... blah.

 

(Sorry, just Instagram pictures for now. I'll be back with more Florence stuff when I finally get around to loading pictures from my actual camera.)