Hello everyone! Long time no talk! I’m going to try to catch up on these posts from this amazing trip so you can stay up to date on all our incredible experiences. I know everyone says this, but this travel and blogging/working/etc stuff is no joke! (As many of you know, I am working part time over here so it’s not just blog posts that I’m calling “work” 😉

It’s about time that I share with you the wonderful place that is Florence, Italy! We arrived in Florence on August 26– we took a lovey bullet train from Rome and arrived there no problem. Our first Air BnB was a cozy place that was centrally connected to the city by the amazing tram system they had there. I would absolutely say that Florence is one of those cities where you can stay somewhere outside of the city for a better price and more privacy and most likely be able to get into the city center with no issue at all due to the amazing trams. All you do is buy a ticket at the station near to you, validate it once you get on, and ride it until your stop- it’s not underground stations or anything- the tracks run right through the road!

Once we arrived the first night and got settled in, I of course had to get my lay of the land by taking a run around where we were staying. It was amazing! We were staying right by a huge park with a large river and tons of people biking, hiking, playing football (soccer), baseball, basketball, and rollerblading. I was able to catch the sunset which made me so very happy!

That night, we decided to go out and explore a little brewery and a place that had a live band. We did meet some friends, but were very tired the next day because we didn’t get home until late!

That next morning, I took the tram into Florence by myself to do some exploring. Florence is a very special city to me because I have actually visited there twice before with my high school while on a mission trip in an area not too far from the city. Having been here a couple times before, it was so fun to explore and re-visit places, this time with a new excitement and understanding.

I spent the morning walking around, wandering through the streets, and checking out this incredible coffee shop called Le Menagarie that was recommended to me by my friend Alexis who had studied abroad in Florence before. The whole place was so aesthetic, calming, and classy. I ordered a chai tea latte and it was very refreshing! They did use actual tea, which shocked a girl who is used to Starbucks pouring the cardboard concentrate into a cup and adding milk😂

While I was here I read and journaled a little bit and just basked in some alone time. Traveling and spending all your time with only one other person can be a little draining sometimes 😉

After this, I got some lunch and we mostly just lounged around for the rest of the day. I finished the day with another run! Let’s just say this was the one and only time we’ve been out on this trip due to this reason😂

The next morning we decided to get up and head into the city immediately for some food, exploring, and museums. We found the famous Ponte Vecchio (we later moved to an air bnb that required us to walk through it every day, so that was awesome) and took a pic, then headed to a cool brunch spot to share some eggs Benedict. Found the replica of David and the statue square in central Florence, walked around until we got hungry again, then headed to the central market for lunch!

For the first part of our trip, we were really loving the central markets. This one was really fun, with such a fun energy and vibe and so many different stands and places to get food. This central market in particular began the large fixation of Evan’s with dumplings. He tried steamed dumplings here for the first time, and we’ve spent the entire rest of the trip trying to find dumplings that measure up. So, needless to say, we visited that market a couple more times during our trip to Florence 😂

This night, I decided to go out for a run in the city. This was a questionable idea, because Florence’s streets are incredibly crowded so it was legitimately like one of those video games where you dodge the intruders except with strollers, dogs, and sweaty dads. Not sure if I would recommend but it was a cool experience!

So our goal after Florence was to head straight to Paris; but that proved to be much more difficult than we thought. If you’re ever planning a trip like this, there are a couple of places that should be booked wayyyy in advance due to incredibly high cost of travel, limited dates, and high demand. Anytime in the next week that we wanted to travel to Paris was outrageously expensive, even for an overnight bus ride (which we were originally trying to avoid). We tried every option, and finally we decided what would be best would be to spend two additional days in Florence, head to Milan as a good middle ground for 2 days, then take the overnight bus (ugh) from Milan to Paris for the cheapest price and most bang for our buck (if you could even say that?)

We were able to get a bed and breakfast reservation in the downtown area (shoutout Priceline) and this place was AWESOME. they had free breakfast, free lattes and cappuccinos all the time, and were very centrally located so instead of having to take the tram, we walked everywhere! On our third morning we loaded up all our stuff, headed to the second Air BnB, and unpacked before we headed into the city to hang out again.

On this day, we did a lot of shopping and exploring. Florence is one of those places that you can literally just get lost in, going into every store and window shopping, walking around, and admiring all the beauty and all of a sudden you look up and 3 hours is gone!

By the time it had reached afternoon (I can’t remember but I’m fairly certain we returned for more dumplings for lunch) we decided to take about a mile walk to this gorgeous, 5 star, incredibly expensive Italian villa up at the top of the hill. Rooms here are around $900 a night, so naturally we walked up, Evan ordered a cigar, and we enjoyed the beauty of the pool. Don’t worry, they totally knew we weren’t staying there and were very hospitable 🙂

Headed back, grabbed dinner, hung out, nothing too eventful!!

The next day we had almost a full afternoon until our train to Milan, so we spent it exploring, hanging out, and saying goodbye to our favorite food market. We had to get this incredible triangle meatball sandwich to say goodbye (and moreeee dumplings). Evan is the type of person that once he finds something he likes, he loves to fixate on it😂

And then we were off! Highlights of Florence included the food, the people, the weather, the beautiful river, the history, and the culture. I personally prefer Florence to Rome and maybe even Naples. The bad sides would be the prices (most are affordable but it is very touristy), the amount of people (we went in summer so it was still very crowded) and the running scene (this is only if you stay somewhere inside the city). All in all, I was so happy to return to one of my favorite places! I’ll see you in Milan!