Sharing "La Dolce Vita"

The first weekend I was in Florence I found myself living la dolce vita (the sweet life). With Mom & Jewel in my city, I wanted to show them that same perfect day I had; that first day when I found all my favorite things in Florence. 

We started with what is the essential kick off to any great venture: gelato. Not just any gelato, but the sweet creamy delight that is Gelateria Vivaldi. 

Jewel and I were in an excited face mood, and the guarantee of a double scoop cone with coco (coconut) and tiramisu only caused further escalation. 

We scarfed our gelato while mama sipped her cappuccino, before bounding up to the Japanese Garden and the Giardino delle Rose. 

I dragged the kids up the ascent, promising over and over, that the view would be worth it, and I never lie. 

It was a bit windy, so I tried to protect Mama after having dragged her up the mount. 

When it was time for Jewel and I's photo op'...well, things went to silliness real quick, per usual. 

We managed to get it together for about 13 seconds. 

But by second 14 the cuteness was morphing back into its usual strangeness. 

I may have slightly underestimated the continuation of our ascent, but if you're going to make it all the way to Piazzale Michelangelo, you cannot miss San Miniato al Monte. 

The view only gets better and better as you get higher. 

It was around 6 o'clock when we arrived, which means, that upon entering the oldest church in Florence, the plainchant of the Benediction monks could be heard echoing off the marble walls from the crypt.  

It seems plausible to assume I enticed Mom and Jewel up the hill with the promise of breathtaking views and a piece of history. While this is in large part how I lured Mom up, Jewel only needed one word: monks. The opportunity to see a real life monk was truly too much for the crazy kid to handle as she continuously expressed "I can't even!" upon seeing the many blessed members of the church. Some people come to Italy for the food, art, and humanities, Jewel came for the monks. 

After the excitement of the holy robed men, Jewel made many notes of the things she needed to learn about them (How do you become a monk? What do they do? Do they live regular monk lives? etc..), and we began our descent back towards the Arno. 

With the halting of the incessant rain for most of April, the river has finally taken on what I feel is a more natural color for water (ie. not the same shade of brown as peanut butter, that it had been for many months). 

The promise of food kept us trudging on, back across the river and towards Moyo, both my favorite bar, and the place I would introduce Mom and Jewel to apertivo. I like to think we ended the evening in just the right way. 

Experiencing such splendid things on one walk through the city is what consistently convinces me that in Firenze the good life is so achievable. You cannot walk through the city (or out of it) without stumbling on something to make your day even better than it already was. Gelato, great views, history, food, atmosphere; Florence is la città dolce. 

Yours, Kenna