A Tuscan Thanksgiving

This year we decided to abandon the traditional Thanksgiving celebration and traded turkey for gelato.   It was an adventure traveling with the two girls, but we were so impressed with what little troopers they were.   They both slept well and seemed to enjoy themselves.    Susannah especially enjoyed the museums and the food that Florence had to offer.   Sarah Avery was obviously just along for the ride, but she did great on the plane rides and seemed to take all the new surroundings in stride.   We had warm and mostly dry weather and were fortunate to find a wonderful apartment right in the middle of the tourist area so we could take much needed rest breaks in the afternoons.   Overall, I would call our first big trip as a family of four a great success.  Here are some of the photos we took.....

We headed to the airport on Wednesday morning and Susannah was so excited to finally use her suitcase.   We debated letting her use it because we thought we would end up carrying it for her, but she pulled that thing through both airports and on the entire1 km walk through Florence on our departure day.   

First stop after checking into our apartment was gelato  round #1.   

The flight from Stuttgart is short so we had all of Wednesday afternoon to explore.   This is the bank of the Arno River that flows through the city.   The covered bridge in the background is Florence's famous Ponte Vecchio .

A closer look of Florence's most famous bridge. 

This is the view from the center of the bridge.   The rest is covered and full of jewelry shops.   The bridge was originally home to the city's butcher stands.   A local explained that this was how tripe (cow stomach and intestines)  became a traditional Florentine dish.....the poor people would go downstream and collect the butcher's scraps and salvage them to survive.    

Susannah  loved exploring all the narrow cobblestone streets.

Outside the world famous Uffizi Museum.

In the beautiful square outside the town hall, Palazzo Vecchio.

We  spent our mornings sight-seeing.   Then headed back for a little rest time after lunch.   The girls seemed to like our apartment.  

Sweet sister time

Susannah was  most excited about seeing King David because she has been learning about him in Sunday school. 

She asked all sorts of questions.   She wanted to know why his best friend Jonathon wasn't there with him.   

And she wanted to know why he wasn't wearing a crown. 

Surprisingly, she never asked where his clothes were.  ;)

It really is amazing to think that this was carved out of one solid piece of rock.

Sarah Avery enjoyed her time at the Accademia too.

These  two were the only children we saw in the museum, but they did a great job.

We even managed to check out this supplementary sculpture exhibit without breaking anything.  

Susannah really enjoyed  herself and had all sorts of questions about the sculptures.

Florence's most famous cathedral is absolutely breathtaking.

We had a pizza picnic one day for lunch.   Susannah enjoyed feeding  her crust to the birds.

This baby girl was such a good sport about all the extra stroller time.   

The Duomo from another angle.

Palazzo Vecchio is a beautiful  fortified palace that currently serves as the town hall.

We kept Susannah interested in posing  for photos by taking these jumping shots.  

This was an American bride getting married in the palace.

Another view from Ponte Vecchio

Such a beautiful  city.  It lives up to the hype for sure.

Peter thought this graffiti was hilarious so we had  to make a video to send to Shoo-Shoo.

We spent one afternoon at the Ufizzi Museum.   We were already tired when we arrived, so we basically skimmed through, checking out only the most famous paintings, like Birth of Venus.   

This room was apparently the very first place where art was stored and displayed, making it the first museum of sorts.   It is roped off so you can only peek in from the doorways.   It is so beautiful though.   It is also the place where we broke several rules at one time, which brought a reprimand from the guard.   Susannah set off an alarm when she walked behind a rope while I simultaneously was snapping a picture using my flash.   Add these offenses to our monster stroller and fussing baby and we were not the most popular museum patrons.   

I definitely want to return when the girls are much older because every single room is so breath-taking.   I would love to be able to leisurely experience it. 

But as you can see here, we were past the leisure phase of the day.

 

These two enjoyed the views more than the art.

The views were pretty amazing. 

Posing with a work by Michelangelo.   We kept telling her that these were the most famous paintings in the world, but I don't think she was impressed.   After the first few rooms, she asked when she was going to get to paint.  

The museum's terrace had an amazing view of Palazzo Vecchio's tower.   Peter and Susannah tried to recreate their jumping shot, but this photographer was tired so I couldn't get the timing right. 

The skyline views from the terrace were amazing. 

After the Uffizi, we headed home for our Thanksgiving  Dinner.   We ate our Italian feast and watched the Macy's parade on the ipad.  

Dinner consisted of several purchases from the local grocer....pasta with meat sauce, greens dripping in olive oil, fresh bread with pesto sauce, and we threw some chicken in for good measure.   We watched the parade and skyped some family members.   It was a perfect way to celebrate our first Thanksgiving as a family of four.

The next day we headed over to the outdoor markets to do a little shopping.   I was on the fence about whether to splurge on some Italian leather.   Here we are having a late morning snack and taking a much needed break from all the aggressive shopkeepers.  

I decided to pass on the leather jacket, but this little shopper had a great time looking at all the trinkets.   

This carousel was the most beautiful one I've ever seen.....it topped even the ones in Paris.  

And it was already decorated for Christmas!

Whenever we saw the carriage ride horses, we stopped to say hello.  (Just as fun as the actual carriage ride, but free.)  ;)

We had read in our guide book that the Leonardo Da Vinci museum was very kid friendly so we decided  to spend one afternoon there.   It did not disappoint.   Susannah loved all the hands-on displays of Da Vinci's scientific discoveries.   She spent a good 30 minutes playing in the mirror room.    

While I usually hate the short days that this time of year brings, it was fun to be able to see the city after dark without breaking our bedtime.   The city was already decorated for Christmas and aglow with twinkle lights.   Here Susannah is picking out a balloon animal from a questionable street performer.  

Speaking of balloons, she also managed to score one on our day trip to Siena.   

We took an hour and a half bus ride from Florence to Siena.   While the transport was pretty challenging  with an infant and an almost four year old, it was worth the trip to see this beautiful city.   

Il Campo is the name of Siena's famous square.   It is  gorgeous and vast and really neat because people just lay out on the ground like it is a grassy park or a beach.   

It wasn't very crowded, so we let Susannah run around.

She had a blast.

Another side  of the square.

And another.

Playing patty-cake while we waited for our lunch to arrive.

Sarah Avery was fighting her nap like crazy after lunch, so Peter let Susannah run some more while I tried desperately to get the little one to sleep.

The sun came out for a little while and it was so beautiful seeing the blue sky against the sand colored buildings. 

/The city hall tower.

This is a panoramic of the square.   

All of the streets look like this.  If you ignore the fancy shops and tourists, you can almost imagine what the city was like 700 years ago.   

Postcard worthy spots like this are around every corner. 

This was definitely our toughest day logistically, but I thought the city was absolutely worth all the hassle.

The city is divided into 17 distinct neighborhoods and each have their own mascot and flag.   This is the statue of the wolf that represents this particular contrada.   Each year the neighborhoods compete in a famous horse race that goes around Il Campo.  

This is Siena's cathedral and it is just as breath-taking as the one in Florence.   

Gorgeous.

Susannah made friends with this adorable puppy while we hung out on the steps. 

The inside is just as spectacular as the outside.

The ceiling of the dome was amazing.  As usual, pictures don't begin to do it justice. 

Our bus arrived back to the Florence train station after dark, so we were able to enjoy the splarkling 20 minute walk through the city to our apartment.   The building in this picture was completely covered in blue twinkle lights.....National Lampoon's Vacation style.    The city after dark is stunning, but this was Saturday night and the city was absolutely packed.   Sarah Avery was crying so we were carrying her while pushing the stroller and keeping up with Susannah in the massive crowd.   Peter and I were more than ready for a glass of Chianti when we finally made it home.  

This was the front of our apartment.   It had an adorable terrace and was really well equipped for a baby.   We lucked out with this find for sure. 

Sunday was a little different than we had planned because the Florence Marathon was that morning.   We didn't know this until we arrived and our landlord explained that she didn't know how we would get to the airport since all the streets would be closed, which meant no taxis or buses.   So instead of going to church and the Galileo Museum like we had planned, we cheered on the runners and had a little reconnaissance mission to figure out the best way to the airport. 

As we walked around, I snapped a couple of shots of our favorite little eateries.   We stopped here twice during our stay and enjoyed talking to Gusto, the owner.   

And this place served probably the best sandwhich of my life.   

This was all of the sandwich shop workers dressed in their marathon  t-shirts.   I told Peter I couldn't think of a better post-race meal than one of their sandwiches, followed by gelato.   These little sandwich shops are everywhere in Florence and they are so neat because they serve two things.....cured meat sandwiches and Chianti.   And the Chianti is self service.   And if you aren't lucky enough to snag one of the few stools outside, then you eat and drink standing on the crowded sidewalk.   It is super charming and fun, but not the most ideal situation for people with huge strollers and four year olds.   :)

Thanks to Peter's resourcefulness, we made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare.   The flight was uneventful.  This face pretty much sums up how we all felt about being home.   

Florence was beautiful and we had an amazing time, but we were soooo happy to be back to our own apartment.  

Susannah walked straight back to her room upon arrival and immediately changed into a princess dress and heels.   And this baby girl was all smiles.   I couldn't believe that she was perceptive enough to know she was home, but she definitely knew and was super happy.   And Peter and I couldn't have agreed with her sentiment more.   Home sweet home has a whole new meaning after traveling with two little ones.     

We hope all of you had fun and relaxing holidays.   Coming up next, Susannah's 4th birthday.   4th!!  How can she be 4 already???