11.19.16 - YOU KNOW HOW I GET!

11.19.16

“YOU KNOW HOW I GET!”

When you are in Florence, you have to stay up late.  But when you are jet lagged and a parent/child, that means that you will also be sleeping until 10:30am like a pack of no good teenagers.  By the time we managed to get out of the house, it was 11:55am, so we missed breakfast, but not coffee (thankfully) because that is free flowing all day.  

We started out the day with the knowledge that H1 needed to be fed a copious amount of food and that any excuses she had for tormenting us were a consequence of hanger, not sleep (after like 12 hours of that).  

I don’t want to throw around this term too lightly, but our apartment is in a perfect location between the Duomo and Uffizi, and right around the corner, we found a small, old cafe last night, so we returned this morning for brunch.  

H1 had a plate of cookies.

H2 had a slice of cake.  

It's decaf!

Then S and I tried to hand feed them salad and ham sandwiches.  It felt very old world surrounded by Italians in dark clothes chatting and sipping espressos and wine while we pleaded with our children to eat something anything even cookies and cake.  

After brunch, we decided to do a detour to the PIazza Republica to check out the carousel and the girls rode it once, then asked for four more rides.  We settled on one more.  It had rained hard in the morning, but as soon as the rain stops, everyone comes out to the street and it has a busy liveliness that is hard to capture in the mostly car driven environment we live.  The streets here are free from most cars, although they do careen through the crowds with amazing success, but the center is so small, most people just hoof it.  

Less than a block from the duomo, we headed up the street and set our eyes on the cathedral complex for the first time.  Even the girls uttered a wow.  Immediately they asked to climb the dome and we had to put them off for a few minutes so that we could at least see the outside for a half second.  

We went inside the cathedral and took in its grandeur, the girls and S lighting candles in thanks for our wonderful lives.  

We had to run back to the apartment for a bathroom break, so since we were in the neighborhood, we had…

ICE CREAM #1

Three gelatos for S.

ZERO FOR YOU!

Then the girls realized we weren’t climbing anything, and we headed to buy tickets - only to find that the campanile didn’t do reservations for the dome.  So we hurried across the piazza to the museum to secure reservations to climb, helping a Japanese couple sort out the machine for booking and making a line very happy in the process.  

I then had to broker a deal with H2 who had declared today her birthday.  I asked her if we climbed the campanile and if I promised to take her on the carousel after the museum, would she allow us to actually look in the museum.  

She shook on it.  

We then rushed back across the plaza into the bell tower, and we began our 414 step journey up to the top.  Being a large man with a backpack on, passing people was not easy.  The girls began flying up the stairs and S and me brought up the rear.  But after the first landing, even the girls began to slow.  At one point, near the top, it began a tight spiral to the top and it was so narrow that I had to literally throw my body forward while leaning against the inside narrow wall to get passed the crowds.  

The girls went ahead, singing to themselves without a care in the world as I teetered on the brink of falling in the narrow stairway.

At the top of the bell tower, H2 thought it was wise to put her foot in one of the marble decorations and pull herself up onto the skinny wire fence that stopped people from falling/jumping off the top.  Luckily, her thighs are too strong to fit through the opening in the marble, but it was a nice cardiac arrest moment for all.  

The views were incredible, but the girls were ready to go down as soon as they got up, so we began the trek down the tower.  This too was in exercise in thinking skinny because it seemed a huge wave was coming up as we tried to go down.  Again, we got stuck in the narrow spindle, my arm across the hall propping myself up as people pushed past me.  

S and I are pretty fit.  I don’t skip leg day.  But I gotta say, my legs are pretty sore in a way that they aren’t normally.   This stair climbing is definitely working parts of me I neglect.

The girls walked out unfazed, jumping in every deep puddle in the piazza while holding our hands so that we got splashed and our wrists were dislocated as they used us for balance.  

Into the duomo museum we went after feeding H1 and H2 Fantas and protein bars.  Coffees of course for the adults.  Sketchpads in hand, the girls began sketching Jesus, the saints, the pope’s hat, and Michelangelo's Florentine pieta.  H2 had her first museum breakdown here, and for the first time of the trip, I had to pick her up.  But she weighs 65 pounds, so that didn’t last too long.

It was time for the next carousel ride, so we headed back to the Piazza Repulica and rode for the final time of the day, and then headed to a fabulous Italian clothing store, H&M, for some children’s PJs - only to find they don’t have kids’ clothes at this one.  

On the way, H2 saw the flying helicopters with LED lights the street sellers peddle, and she demanded one.  When we said no and she was displeased, she turned to S and through gritted teeth growled YOU KNOW HOW I GET! I GET ANGRY!

She remained unsatisfied and angry.  

We then had to march all of 400m back to our apartment for a little relaxation before dinner.  

It was hard to muster up the energy to leave our apartment for what is for us, a really late dinner, but we had spotted a place right around the corner that looked promising (even though it wasn’t in my spreadsheet).  

It turned out wonderfully.  The girls are a hit with most here, especially when they bust out their grazie and ciao! Which both seem to turn the tides of an surliness people might feel about serving a family with two little hooligan children.  S and I even scored a free meloncello simply for having cute kids!  Wooooo!

We preloaded H1 with what we thought she might like (ravioli) and then S tricked her into eating wild boar pappardelle by saying it was hamburger - SCORE!

There was only a little bit of attitude rodeo at the start of dinner, but it turned out to be a great meal all around.  

Credit to our personal photog - H1

Post-dinner, there was a definite need for gelato, so we headed off to what the girls and S have decided is the best in Firenze, Gelato di Neri.  

No one did toothpaste flavor, but we did sea salt and rice pudding, strawberry pie and nutella, lemon and mango, and lemon and crema.  

ICE CREAM #2

And after that single serving, the girls decided they needed…

ICE CREAM #3

Notice she is refusing to wear a jacket

That’s right folks, back to back ice creams.

Worth it.  

As we walked down the dark streets of Firenze, through a crowd of youngsters eating their giant sandwiches and smoking, S said look at our little travelers as the girls walked ahead with their cones, singing their little songs, oblivious for the moment that the weren’t at home in PV.  

But maybe they were at home.  Maybe all it really takes is your family nearby, no matter how annoying they may be, to give us security, to give us comfort, to give us purpose.  

Buona Noche!