Oh the days. Where have they gone? Since we last spoke things have been moving along nicely in Italy. The country has yet to fall and the vino is still running freely. The food is still delicious and the lanscapes are still too breathtaking for words. I'm going to call life a success right now based solely on those few things. You go life.

We have been all in and around Florence and Arezzo. Two beautiful, yet vastly different cities. Florence is a major tourist city that booms with souvenir shops, cruise ship tour groups and hundreds of years of history. Arezzo is a hidden gem that holds strong to it's medieval roots with imposing watch towers and beautiful gothics archways. Regardless, I find both to be equally as delightful and beautiful in their own right.

I was once again reunited with the bronze hog in the market. We took a few pictures together to rekindle our friendship. If you rub his nose, it is said that you will return to Florence. It worked last year, so I took the chance and rubbed it again. What's there to lose?

While others ventured to the Uffizi musuem to gawk at ridiculous amounts of art Julia, Mathew and myself ventured to the Pitti Palace to do some gawking of our own at royal bedrooms and bathrooms and hold photo shoots with statues. Really, we can't have nice things. It's just not in our cards because we don't know how to act in public. This palace was home to the Medicci family way back in the day and when I say it is so much rich in one place that you can't even comprehend how much rich you are staring at, I mean it more than Tony the Tiger thinks Frosted Flakes are grrrrreat. It is absolutely unfathomable the grandiosity of not only the items in this palace, but the amount of it. Truly mind blowing.

After all that rich, we needed to be brought back to peasant status, so we climbed all 414 steps to the top of the Duomo bell tower. Next week we will venture to the top of the Duomo, the line was just too long the other day. The views of course were breaktaking- hindsight is telling me I should have capture one for you all. Sorry I'm a terrible picture taker.

I had a moment at the top of the bell tower when I was looking out over the city and someone leaned to me and asked what a structure was and I was not only able to correctly identify it, but I was able to take them on a 360 degree rooftop tour of Florence- pointing out all of the important structures and giving a pinch of information about each. I should have asked for a tip afterwards because there are tour guides that get paid to do that and I just did it out of the graciousness of my heart. Come on now. This seems unjust. 

But for real- One of my biggest goals when traveling somewhere is to be able to effectively navigate a city by the time I leave. This includes their public transit system, their main attractions, a few restaurants, notable buildings and be directionally confident when traveling within the city. To have the realization that not only have I been able to do that with yet another city, but with another city in another country- You have never seen a smile so big as the one that covered my face when I realized my accomplishment. It's the little victories, folks. Those are the ones that keep us on our feet from day to day and those are the ones that keep pushing us forward. 

A few shots from the top. Obviously we are so vain that the pictures are 85% our faces and 15% view. Americans. Yeesh. 

In Arezzo we had a grand time, and by grand time I mean it was a well needed day of slow moving and lounging. We visited an Italian counseling school and spoke with some students there and met once again with Lorenzo, the proprietor of the school. Aftwards he treated all of us to a traditional lunch that left me feeling two seconds away from popping at the seams. It was absolutely delicious though. Props for the great choice in food, Lorenzo. pound it, bro. 

One of my favorite parts of the day was this photo with Reney- Dr. Becky's brilliant and wonderful daughter. We're kind of a big deal- don't be jealous world. She's a cool kid, but makes me miss my own nephew a million times over. 

Despite all of the wonderful things that have happened in the past few days, my hands down favorite has been when I finally found a craft beer store. I can't take all the credit though, Dr. Becky's husband did the leg work while I was at the counseling school because he enjoys the art of craft beer as much I do. Either way, it was the best feeling ever to be in like company in another country sipping on something that is so familiar. That's the thing about having a passion for something- it doesn't matter where you are enjoying your passion, it still brings you the same feeling of being home. 

Today is a big for me- Ash and I have our seminar presentation this afternoon AND I am cooking dinner for everyone in the villa this evening with Christina, the chef, who also doubles as my spirit animal. I wanted to cook gnocchi- which are essentially potato dumplings- so she found a great recipe for us to use and we're headed out to the garden in a bit to pick some things to create this masterpiece. 

Naturally there will be pictures of this experience because if you know me at all, you know that I am not domestic in the least- okay, in reality I am but it's not a very good look on me. 

I will be sure to throw up pictures from both of these events maybe in the evening or tomorrow morning before we head out for the day- we're off to Pisa and Lucca. Leaning towers and bike riding on city walls. 

Wish me well in my ventures today, even though by the time you sleepy heads crawl out of bed I will be partly through or even finished with all of these activities. Either way, I'll have my wave detector out so If you send good vibes this way I'll be able to pick up on them- fret not. 

I wish you all a fantabulous day and will be back soonish with photos from the big adventures of today.