What were you grateful for this week?
Italian sandwich shops. 

What was the most difficult or challenging part of this week?
Getting sick. 

Tell us about a “wow” moment you had this week. 
This week I spent a few hours trying to teach the little girl I watch how to ride a bike. Teaching a kid how to ride a bike is hard enough, but trying to do it without speaking the same language is a whole other story. We’ve made a lot of progress though and I’m hoping it just gets better!
 

Tell us about your week! 
This week went by so fast. It was an average week filled with eating pasta with the kids and taking walks to the city center to sit and read and eat gelato. Thursday night I was hit by a cold very suddenly. I had a bad night of sleep and used Friday as my day to rest up and get better before the weekend of travelling. Aka laying in bed watching Netflix with tissues stuffed up my nose. But it was a good decision because I felt loads better Saturday morning.

Me, K, and M went to Florence this weekend! We arrived, found our hostel to leave our stuff, and went walking. It was a hot and sweaty day, but we were in Florence so no complaints. We started walking and around one corner we see the duomo and we all just looked at each other and started making a scene in the middle of the street with our arms flailing and “are you kidding me???” coming out of our mouths. Seeing it so suddenly and for the first time was crazy. The building takes your breath away.

 

We could have sat and stared forever probably but we were on a mission for food and views. Of course we got distracted by all the buildings and statues, which I recommend. Getting distracted has proven itself to be very rewarding for us. We ended up finding a small little restaurant and had the most amazing pasta/ravioli. 10/10 would eat again. We then started making our way to Piazzale Michelangelo, which has the best view of Florence. We got there as the sun had just set and left an orange glow over the city. The view is AMAZING. Being able to see the whole city and the mountains behind it was like nothing I have ever seen.

Second day of Florence we did more walking and exploring. Walking across bridges and stumbling upon cool buildings. I heard about an amazing sandwich shop and decided I had to try it before leaving. It did not disappoint. The line was out the door so you know it had to be good. The inside was so lively and the people working were funny and friendly. And the SANDWICH. I would go back to Florence just for this sandwich alone. 

 

After this religious eating experience, we went to the Uffizi museum and saw some amazing art. I took many art history classes in college and have studied so many of these paintings, it was crazy to see them in real life. Thinking about how long ago they were created, and how life was like in Florence back then is unfathomable. My appreciation for this art has increased majorly. 

 

After we did more walking and saw the Duomo from every angle. It’s like seeing it for the first time. Ended the day with some gelato of course and headed home with some really tired legs.