"Firenze"- Fabulous Florence

Continuing our tour of Italy, we traveled to Florence. As the birthplace of the Renaissance, Florence seems like a walking museum. The churches, streets, and galleries are packed full of masterpieces. We were excited to start exploring!

After arriving at the Florence train station, we headed to our sweet little bed and breakfast.

Once we were dropped off our luggage, we were excited to do a little exploring before we went to sleep for the night.

We ran into the dazzling Duomo. The architecture is spectacular! The streets of the historic city center of Florence were flooded with people. 

The Arno river and the Ponte Vecchio bridge were beautiful lit up at night.

After enjoying our cappuccinos the next morning, we rented bicycles so that we could move quickly through the city and see as much as we possibly could.

 We biked back to see the Arno river, and noticed that the water is much prettier in the dark.

But the view is amazing!

We made our way through the crowded streets filled with stalls of Italian leather bags, straw hats, and other Italian trinkets. 

The sun was so intense that my scalp quickly began to burn, and my skin was tingling with a rainy, ice-like feeling. So we searched for a famous  Florentine straw sun hat- you know, the floppy, light-colored straw hat with a big black ribbon tied in a bow. It saved my scalp, and I love it! (Unfortunately, I don't have much use for it here in Aberdeen.)

 Before traveling to Florence, James got the advice to go to Piazzale Michelangelo (or Michelangelo Square) for the most spectacular view of Florence. The piazzale is perched high on the hillside and offers breathtaking views!

 A replica of Michelangelo's David is in the center of the piazza.

A wonderful view of the Arno from Piazzale Michelangelo

Tuscany is absolutely beautiful!

 After biking to the top of the hill and exploring the piazza, we had to stop for more gelato, naturally.

Experimenting with flavors

We then headed back to the city center to tour the inside of the Duomo (Santa Maria del Fiori). This Florence cathedral is the city's most famous landmark.

 Smaller part of the gigantic cathedral

 Although the inside of the Duomo is very pretty, I much prefer the exterior green and white colored architectural masterpiece that the cathedral is.

 Wearing more appropriate church clothing

 After touring the Duomo, we navigated the narrow and winding streets to find a spot to enjoy dinner.

 We found a local pizzeria and ordered our first pizza of our trip. By the end of the trip, I believe we had eaten at least eight pizzas.

 The pizza was incredibly delicious! If you haven't tried pizza without cheese, you should. It's fabulous.

 James loves pizza. Pizza may or may not have been ordered every single night we ate out in Italy. (Oh wait, there was a time when we ordered tripe on accident. Gross. I don't recommend it.)

 We had to have tiramisu while in Italy. It was great!

Our last day in Florence, we visited a local food market in the morning.

 Tons of fresh pasta

 Watching pasta being made

 We found a ton of interesting looking and smelling fish.

 We bought some delicious produce to take on a picnic. We biked uphill past the Piazzale Michelangelo to the San Miniato church. 

 The views were, again, incredible!

Seeing the amazing views was our favorite part of Florence.

I loved seeing all of the different churches.

Ciao, Florence!

"You're only as old as your spine feels..."

Thanks to this wise quote from my yoga instructor this morning, I know now truly know how old I really am. When I heard her say this, I immediately thought "Well, that settles it. I must be ancient. (With no thanks to my immune system that attacks my spine.)"

Speaking of immune systems...Mine is currently out of commission. I finally caught a virus that is going around. Unfortunately for me, my medicine works really hard to turn my immune system way down so that my immune system doesn't get confused and attack my body instead of the virus. Because of this sickness, I got to experience several new things here in Aberdeen, Scotland.

Getting to go to an NHS (National Health Service) surgery- "Surgery" here just means the doctor's office. No need for getting cut open. A few weeks ago I registered with a "surgery" so that I would be allowed to see a doctor when (inevitably) I got sick. I started feeling sickly so I made an appointment. I was extremely curious to see how the public health care system would work. It wasn't anything too crazy. Appointments here last only ten minutes max! Before I went in for my appointment, the receptionist told me that I would only get 10 minutes with the doctor. If a patient needs more than ten minutes, he/she is told to make another appointment. When I went in to see the doctor, let's call her Dr. K., we met in an office instead of an examination room. This was very interesting; it was more like seeing a specialist. Dr. K. had to reference several medical books to assess my condition and the cold/flu I'm currently fighting. I thought this was interesting. You would never see a doctor back in the states do this! (At least they would never do this in front of you.) Dr. K. was very kind and speedy. I left within my ten minutes with a prescription in my hand. No money exchange. (Remember: This is all from my personal experience. Doctors can be very different so who knows if this is how all "surgeries" work here.)

Getting a free prescription from the chemist- A chemist here is a pharmacist. You just walk in, hand them your prescription, they quickly fill it, hand it to you, and you walk out the door. No money exchange. Interesting fact: a person can go to a chemist and get a behind the counter medicine without seeing a doctor.

Stay inside during incredibly cold and wet weather- Brr! It is getting very cold here. It is freezing every night, and I can usually see my breath when I'm outside. It has also been raining pretty consistently with no end in sight. I have also been able to watch Extreme Home Makeover. It never fails to make me cry. Every single time.

Making Cock-a-leekie soup- This is also known as chicken and leek soup. Leeks are very common and cheap here so I decided to try it out. Hopefully it tastes as good as it looks!

See some interesting things while walking to the doctor and chemist-

I took a double take when I saw this sign. Say what??? A fish pedicure? No thanks. I wonder why this went out of business... When I got home I had to google Garra Rufa Fish Pedicure. These are some of the photos you might find.

An American candy shop! Although Scottish food is just fine, some American foods are hard to find. Hence the need for an (expensive) American candy store. I saw several Scots walk out of the store with root beer and Twinkies. Glad this is what makes America famous.

Twinkies, root beer, oh, and canned hot dogs. I saw these at the local grocery store.

I don't remember this being a real thing back home...

Update: I actually wrote this post about a week ago, and I am doing much better as far as my sickness. Praise the Lord!

This just in: Snow predicted as a possibility for tomorrow. Bring it on!