Firenze é BELLA!!!!

Ciao ragazzi,

I am doing better, sorry about that last post, but sometimes frustration gets the best of me and online is the best place for me to vent. I apologize.  So, Florence, or Firenze in Italian, was BEAUTIFUL! It was small enough that it was quaint and big enough to be enchanting. I loved it!  I am hoping to go back for a day next weekend with hopefully a bit warmer weather. 

When we got there we wandered around forever trying to find where we were haha, but eventually we got a cab to the hostel and then off to explore.  We stopped for lunch at a lil place with amazing pasta and birre di miele ( honey beer). Love love love!  Then wandered through the market where I got boots, jeans, a hat, bracelets, and a leather purse...... :) the only shopping I have done in Italy.

The Duomo...is AMAZINGLY beautiful. You sort of stumble upon it in the middle of the city and it is breathtaking.  It has such amazing color to it compared to the color scheme of Roma.  Lets see...that night i had AMAZING gnocchi with pesto and then we ended up going out to some ITalian club with 3 Italians...which forced Leanne and I to put our Italian to the test since they spoke basically NO english! hah It was a great time and felt great to have the freedom and independence back in my life. 

The next day we went back to the Duomo, saw the David.  Ok wait, we must focus on the David now... he is literally the most perfect man EVER! I usually HATE sculptures, I find them cold, lifeless, and dull... and I walked into the room with David and just could not stop admiring the every detail in absolute perfection.  From the veins in his arm, to the muscle definition in the legs...it was perfect. I literally fell in love with it....

Saturday night we went to dinner with our friend Chelsea and her boy from New York and I had Steak Florentine....um...AMAZING! and we shared wine and tomino ( great cheese from Northern Italy) and it was just perfect. 

Saturday night was filled with a bit more drinking than I think any of us planned, which led to an interesting Sunday. But we managed and actually climbed the bell tower next to the Duomo...400 plus stairs....it was a great view and a challenging yet rewarding experience. haha!ù

I am in love with gnocchi in the country and even had Monica and Paolo teach me how to make it for lunch the other day. I am so excited I know how to make pasta from scratch! This week has been really raining, until today.. the sun has been shining and it was almost 62 degrees!!!! BEAUTIFUL today. I went and sat at the beach and soaked up some vitamin D from the sun that I was pretty sure had disappered forever.

Things with the kids has been getting really hard. Fulvio has been horrible lately with lessons and has had me really stressed out.  Last night was a breaking point for all of us.. and I was to the point of shouting at Fulvio, and then Paolo and Monica has to step in.  It resulted in him missing dinner and catechism because he just has not had respect for any of it.  I was really upset about it and talked with Monica about it today and she said it was nothing I have done wrong and has no problem that I had to yell at him and perhaps i need to be more stearn with him in general.  I am really hoping today goes bettter, but I am nervous.

I think I am giong to a concert tomorrow ...should be interesting. I will try to post a few Firenze pics on here but I dont know if I will have the time today... although I have spent 2 hours uploading on Facebook so check them out there if you can and I will get them on here asap!

Miss you all...hope all is well! Love!

Ciao ciao!