First Days in Italy

 This was our second time to Italy so we already had a pretty good idea about what to expect on this trip. Even though the approximate area of Italy is a little less than the size of California state, there were still a lot of places we had on our list to see. During our first Italy trip we visited Milan and Rome. This time we chose Tuscany, Venice, and some of Rome again, to be our destinations. My biggest highlight of the trip was having my brother and his wife with us. It has been more than 2 years since we saw each other and Italy got to be our meeting place in between our two “worlds”, USA and Ukraine. The recent visa-free law for Ukrainian citizens turned to be a great opportunity for us. Ivan and Lyuba could definitely use a much needed getaway for their twenties wedding anniversary and we all could use the precious time together.

Here comes the plane again. We had a really good (about 14 hours total) flight experience with one stop in Frankfurt, Germany.

 After getting our car rental in Rome’s airport, we headed to our Tuscany home away from home. This secluded rental had the charming Italian feel and endless yard with an incredible view of San Gimingnano, one of Tuscany’s towns. We couldn’t be happier. After making a stop in a grocery store, reuniting with Ivan and Lyuba in Florence, we were ready to embrace our getaway.

After much needed rest and a great morning in the paradise like home, we drove to Florence again the next day. The soccer game Fiorentina vs Udinese 2-1, was a good start to take on the Italian culture. While Ashley wanted to play the Noah Arc game on my phone, I had a blast watching the game and listening to Vitaliy’s conversions with Italian soccer fans. Language barrier is not a big issue when soccer is the common ground :).

We chose Simbiosi Organic Pizza and Lovely Food to be our first pizza experience. It was located couple blocks from the Duomo, the huge church in the center of the city. We purposely ordered different kinds of pizza to share. All of them were delicious and priced very reasonably. My favorite was the salmon one. Yummy!

Here is the Duomo church. I was surprized by its size. It was huge! The church was built in the Middle Ages. Its Dome can be seen from anywhere in the city. The area around the cathedral was recently made traffic-free which I am sure made our experience even better. 

A must picture with my brother! I could only dream of such opportunity and here we were, away from our everyday lives, enjoying each other’s company in Italy. Never I regret surrendering my plans and dreams to The Best Life Planner. What a priviledge it is to be called the children of The Best Dad ever who not only disciplines and purifies us for the everlasting life in heaven but spoils us with his grace and satisfies our desires and needs in this earthy journey like our daddy used to do when we were small kids.

Arno river has the most romantic views. I was able to capture the sunset and was happy we planned to come back to Florence again in a few days.

We finished the day with a carousel for our princess Ashley and headed back to the Tuscany home which happened to be just under an hour away drive by car. Another unforgettable day!!