Italy - Part II Florence

Before I get into how much we enjoyed Florence, this little story still has me smiling. Brian's dad met us at the train station, and we took electric bus "A" back to his apartment. He loves these little buses. They are cute, energy efficient and he thinks they're quiet. So, we all jump on the bus and start heading through Florence. Now on the bus, you can hear this high pitched noise that warns people the bus is approaching, because it's electric, it doesn't have the engine noise of other vehicles. Brian and I had to look at each other and smile, because he thought these little buses are so quiet, but for those of us that can hear that pitch of sound...it is anything but. =)
Okay....Brian's dad (we'll just call him Dad from here on out) was living in Florence for the first semester of 2007. He taught a finance and a new venture class for the Gonzaga in Florence program. It allowed him to live in Florence, enhance his teaching skills, build up stamina for his walking muscles, make use of his amazing eye for photographs and remember when he was a student at the Gonzaga in Florence program - and we benefited from all of these attributes.

Dad has a cute little apartment right past the park with the sycamore trees. It was perfect, with two Bert and Ernie beds just for us. Dad has been able to audit a history of Florence class, so as we perused the city, he knew all sorts of interesting things and this translated into him being the best tour guide in town!

Florence, itself is an amazing city. The history, the architecture, the artwork and the food are all incredible. It's easy to walk everywhere (although, Brian and I were sore after day 1 - but we pressed on to keep up with Dad). We visited the Duomo, David (which is still amazing to me) and the Uffizi. We went to Dad's favorite, the Medici chapel. The time, energy and money these people put into the remembrance of their own legacy was incredible.
Brian and I really enjoyed ourselves in Florence partly because Dad asked us to be apart of his teaching experience. Brian and I were the guest speakers for his new venture class. We spoke about our experiences working with start up and small companies and how that varies from other work environments. It was fun to talk with the students and to see their enthusiasm for the future.

Undeniably, the best part of Florence was spending time together, all three of us. We had no problem talking it up. We would talk while we walked and talk while we ate. You know you're on vacation when you can stop in for a late lunch, order a carafe of wine and stay for three hours. We talked about history, our interpretations of today and some of the future. You had to be there...maybe next time...