"Some days are like that..."

Even in Florence.

Although the plan is to see all that we can see while we're here, the fact is we're attempting to live in a foreign city with two small kids. Normal everyday life still goes on. Daddy's sometimes get sick, little boys would rather play than go out and Marmee's carve out time to relax.

Today was one of those days where we didn't really go adventuring into the city. The farthest we got was the super market to buy a few things.

the big super market close to the apartment

our walk home

(this is the front door of our apartment and the smallish elevator that takes up up 5 flights of stairs to our home away from home.)

Life went on... we ate, played, napped and even watched a movie cause "some days are like that, even in" Florence.

 

Ps. for those of you who aren't huge Judith Viorst fans the quote is "mom says some days are like that, even in Australia" from the book Alexander and the terrible, horrible, no go, very bad day. But our day was not horrible... it looked like this out our window, how can that ever be terrible?

A long walk through Firenze

Today we took a long walk to the center of the city, near the Duomo. The boys were really quiet in the giant church, which set our minds at ease a bit for future adventures.

After the Duomo we ventured toward the Arno River, on the way we found smaller streets that had no traffic (people or cars). We gave the Little Misters permission to run, something they haven't had a chance to do since we arrived in Italy. That made them smile.

In this piazza we saw a ton of statues and the boys enjoyed the fountain that was there. Lucius asked to go into the "castle", since it was open and free, we ventured inside briefly.

Then it was on to see the Arno River and Ponte Vecchio bridge. Oliver had seen the bridge in the guide book and had asked to go see it. He was slightly disappointed after seeing it because what he really wanted to do was go underneath it.

It had been a long walk from our apartment, which meant it was going to be a long hike back. A quick pizza lunch and it was back home for the afternoon to rest our feet.

Some Sculpted details:

Ponte Vecchio from different perspectives:

Trains, Trains, trains

Our Apartment is right across the street from the train tracks. Pretty much every train from here to Rome or elsewhere runs on these tracks. That is to say- there's plenty of trains passing our window throughout the day. And the boys COULD NOT be happier or more excited about it.

Its been four days in the apartment and their enthusiasm for each passing train has not yet subsided. It's pretty fun to see them jump up from whatever they're doing, run to the window, watch the train go by and then head straight back to their play. Occasionally one little mister will be out of the room and when he returns his brother says "you missed the train!"

(ps. I have a video tour of the apartment but blogger won't let me upload it... so i'll try again later)

Florence with kids

Adventuring with kids is fun yet very different from my travels in the past (pre-kids). When I wanted to go see something, I ran off and found it. Feeling, tasting, smelling, and seeing anything and everything. Exploring with kids who seem to have a ton of energy and no interesting in seeing the things I want can be much more of a challenge.

This morning we woke up, had breakfast and walked out the door to see what we could see. Went to Le Cure area, saw a big outdoor market. Walked on through random streets, circling back to our apartment for lunch, since the boys were crabbing about the boring walk that produced nothing exciting for them.

When the Little Misters decided they were NOT going to nap, they played instead. Of course, having intentionally packed light, there's not much for two energetic boys to do in a two bedroom apartment. So I did a little research, and we were out the door on an adventure the boys WOULD enjoy. Off to see the Biggest toy store in Florence.

It was only about a 20 minute walk from our apartment, it looked a little farther on the map. It was perfect, burned off a bunch of the excess wiggles AND the boys got to spend a bit of their Christmas money from their Great Grandma on Italian designed toys. Pretty awesome Italian souvenir, if you ask me!

 

I thought the walk was wonderful, 50 degrees with a slight drizzle and I even glimpsed the top of the Duomo.  On our walk home it had stopped raining and we got to see the city all lit up with glimmering stone streets. Beautiful.

Florence by Day and Night:

The Grandiose, Firenze Duomo:

A Restful Beginning...

A couple days of travel will exhaust anyone, but two little people were more than exhausted. Let's just say the 13 hours of sleep for them both was exactly what they needed. We had planned on taking it easy our first few days here in Florence, so sleeping in was a perfect beginning.

breakfast

After everyone was up, breakfasted and dressed for the day, we took a walk to the "big" super Market (I'll get pictures eventually...I hope). It's about five blocks from the apartment and has almost everything we need. Grabbed some groceries and headed back for lunch (frozen pizzas- don't laugh, we were still tired, besides it's Italian frozen pizza so it was WAY better than something from back home) then naps. 

Every great adventurer needs a little downtime to reflect. We treasure these peaceful moments:

When the boys woke they quietly played. It was very peaceful and relaxing. Before dinner we walked back to the super market cause we forgot a few things, came home and made dinner. Bath time and then it was off to bed for the Little Misters. A perfect first day! 

pre-dinner tea time (pear juice with corn cookies)

 

Day One of my families Italian adventure. This is the views from our apartments living room window and the terrace off our dining room.

Quotable: GOD

Oliver sat looking out the window on our flight from London to Rome. All the sudden he turned to me and exclaimed:

"God is in the clouds! When I get home I'm going to tell all my school friends that I met God on an airplane!"

I love his wonderment and excitement at seeing the world from a new perspective. I love that some things don't need to be fully explained to a child for them to still be wonder struck at the beauty all around us.