Florence Part I

The Arno River

Bikes waiting for their tour participants - not us!  We were off to a wonderful and inspiring cooking class!

Ready, set, cook!  We attended The Food & Wine Academy of Florence - definitely a thumbs up!!!!

We made EVERYTHING by hand (did I mention it was terribly HOT and HUMID during our entire trip?)  I'm whisking up some egg whites for tiramisu

My tiramisu

There were over 20 people in our class - we made a whole mess of ravioli and noodles

Very proud!  My ravioli!

Ravioli with a sage butter sauce

Bruschetta

We also made a bolognese sauce from ingredients we found at the market earlier in the day

Florence

The Basilica in Florence

Florence

View across the Arno River from our hotel

Big soccer game when we were in Florence - such country pride in their team - there were big screen TV's all over town

Florence at night

LOVED, loved, loved gelato in San Gimignano (BTW, the gelato wasn't the only thing I loved about San Gimignano - it was a fabulous, go back to town)

When gelato is this beautiful you just can't settle for one

Ahhhh, yes strawberry gelato

The San Gimignano Piazza

Tuscan countryside taken from the parking lot at San Gimignano

I love architecture!

Back in Florence

 

Ahhhhh, Venice

Venice was one of the highlights of our trip.  The bascillca was so beautiful inside, I wish we could have taken pictures of the floor to soaring ceiling mosaics.

On our way to Murano to see some glass.

 View from the hotel's rooftop terrace

 The gondola ride was a favorite...

 Grand Canal

 More Grand Canal

I LOVED the glass!

I want at least one of these...

Venetian masks adorned many, many shops - they were so elaborate.