Knee-gate 2008 and the worst best-idea-ever... aka our trip to Florence

We had our very first visitor in Rome!! My friend Maryam surprised me and showed up in Italy with her mother and aunt. It's only appropriate since she studied here with me last year, and the two of us were inseparable in the countless museums of Rome. It just hasn't been the same without her (though my company is most certainly not lacking this time around!)

She was only in town for a week, and desperately wanted to visit Florence... so we went with her!

We started the day with some shopping in the HUGE flea market. I picked up a few pashminas and Graham tried his best to be entertained (it's Italy, but shopping is still shopping...) Then we headed for lunch!
I had a trio of thick Tuscan soups (they add bread to make it thicker), and Graham had fettuccine with truffle sauce, no not just sauce, CHUNKS of truffles. Mmmm, it was so good! Then we headed out to see the artistic sights of the famous Renaissance city! And what better place to start then...
We snuck pictures of the famous stud, even though the "security guards" tried their very hardest (or was it hardly tried?) to keep us from doing so. I even snuck a picture of the most perfect booty in the world...

Yes, that's right, it's Graham getting out of the shower :) Haha, no, Graham wishes he could have buns that perfectly sculpted! Unfortunately, Michelangelo only crafted from marble and not human flesh (but with perfection like Angie and Brad's baby Shiloh, you have to wonder what he's up to now...)

Later on we found slightly more artistic renditions of the famous hero
They were hilarious! And the shop owner was so proud of them. She created each one herself. If it wouldn't have meant going without food for a day, we would have brought one home with us!

We then checked out Florence's famous Duomo. Graham was amazed to discover that the colorful facade owed its striking walls to various colors of marble, and not a drop of paint! (Can't you see the amazement across his face?)

Inside we craned our necks to see the Last Judgment scene frescoed in the dome.

Across from the duomo we oogled Ghibertti's famous baptistery doors. They really were quite impressive. Something between a sculpture and wall decoration, some figures were actually 3D!

Then we headed over to the Uffizi museum. We didn't go inside because Florence's equivalent of the Louvre deserves a whole day (we shall return!) But it was still pretty to look at :)

Under one of the Uffizi arches we spied a gypsy dressed as a bronze statue in a more casual moment. Apparently even statues require cigarette breaks here in Italy!

After that our tummies were a little rumbly and in the mood for something sweet. So after strolling across the Ponte Vecchio and window-drooling at all the pretty jewlery, we spied something that actually made us drool. It was the most amazing warm, sweet heavenly confection that I have ever had the pleasure to inhale. If you could turn warm fresh-out-of-the-drier sheets, and a bear hug from grandma into a dessert, this is what it would have tasted like! It was a fresh, hot belgium-type waffle (there was something a little different in it that I couldn't quite put my finger on) stuffed with cool, creamy vanilla gelato (Graham's choice, I would have gone with something a little more exciting). It was like heaven on a plate. One bite relaxed every muscle and actually made us sigh right there in the middle of the street. Graham couldn't help but wear his feelings across his face. Notice the sublime, heavenly grin and slightly closed, I-could die-right-now-and-be-happy eyes...


After that we weren't really up for anything else too strenuous, so we parted ways with Maryam and took a stroll around the alleys and streets of Florence. We stumbled upon the (closed) church of Santa Croce. And snapped a picture of the sunset over the Florentine skyline from her piazza.

Then we included ourselves :)

After that we meandered our way back to the train station to catch our late train back home. We stumbled upon a little kiosk that sold wine, beer, and... champagne! So we were struck with the best idea ever! After such a fabulous day we should drink the 4 euro champagne on the train ride home! Classy, right?

Graham proudly displays our 4-euro find and the sheer brilliance of our idea. Then he proceeds to untwist the cork... this is where things get a little, hmm, shall we say, sticky? Not one second after he untwisted the last twist of the metal coil, the cork shot free of its embottled prison and let loose a cascade of cheap champagne. Ordinarily, this would be a little awkward, but not horrible. Well, we were on a moving train, and Grahams hand (which was quick to catch the cork before it broke a window) was angled in such a way that it sent the stream of sticky fizzy alcohol straight in my direction... and all over my lap...

So at that point I was facing a 3-hour train ride looking and smelling like a clumsy drunk who couldn't make it to the restroom in time. Fun. Graham, by the way, escaped without wearing any of it.

And that is how our Florentine adventure ended with the worst best-idea-ever... Needless to say, even if I hadn't been wearing half the bottle, the champagne wasn't very good and we didn't drink it anyway.