Lazy days

So the past couple days have been pretty lazy, so I'm guessing this will be a short post!  On Tuesday we decided to wake up early and hopefully climb the Duomo and go to the Uffizi.  We rolled over at 10 and realized that our chances of beating out the crowds were slim, but we ventured out anyway.  It was ridiculous how many people there were!  Court and I agreed that it was the worst it's been since we've been here!  I think Tuesday is the big cruise day since there were tons of groups with either Disney or Royal Caribbean being shepherded around...not ok!

The bell tower at the Duomo had no line because people were trying to go up the Duomo side, so we snuck in there.  414 steps later and we were at the top, red faced and breathing heavily - I realized at the top that this is the bell tower my sister in law almost passed out at after climbing when she was pregnant with Keegan!  I wasn't pregnant, but I did need to sit down for a few minutes.  The weather was perfect and the views were spectacular so we hung out up there until we were ready to brave the stairs back down.  It was hard to go down because of all the people coming up and us having to meld ourselves against the wall so they could pass.  We then decided to get some gelato near the Duomo, but were shocked when a small cup of gelato went for 5 euros!  Never again, only gelaterias on the side streets from now on.  Afterwards we headed back to the apartment to get some drawing tools and my italian book (for me) and writing tools (for Court) and off we went to the only piazza we know of with grass.  As soon as we got there I tried drawing a little and tried to look at my book, but I am a sucker for naps and nice weather so I basically laid next to Courtney as she wrote.  It was fabulous.

Later that night we were invited by our friend Jacopo to go to dinner and then out for drinks.  After walking the entire city of Florence to meet him, he directed us to a restaurant literally right up the street from our house.  It took us like, hum, 40 minutes to track him down (yes I did get a little lost...but that's beside the point), then another 20 minutes back to where we just came from.  Oh well, he made it worth it!  He first took us to this adorable bar owned by two older brothers who make your cocktail from scratch and with, what I can only describe as, love.  I cannot wait to take anyone who visits me there, it was darling!  I ordered a gimlet (gin, lemonade, sugar), Court order a mojito and Jacopo ordered a gin martini - fancy!  J got his drink first since it was the easiest, then 5 minutes later I got my gimlet with freshly squeezed lemonade in it and meticulously shredded lemon rinds (I thought they were chips for some odd reason and ate one, and Jacopo just looked at me with a strange face as I realized my mistake).  Court's drink came 5 minutes later with the freshest mint I've ever smelt (I'm really trying to sell this place if you can't tell).  Everything was fantastic and it was so cute, LOVED it.  After the drink we went to our nice sushi dinner at the restaurant up our street.  It was all locals and you had to ring a buzzer to even get in.  The sushi was fantastic, I even ate the sashimi and just straight up raw fish!  Oh, and did I mention that I liked it!  Opening a whole new world for me...I feel like my brother when he discovered the wonders of raw sushi.  I also can't help but think that the wine helped a bit...but for now I'm just going to believe that I truly loved it!  We then headed out for more drinks and Jacopo took us to some bars where he knows people...it was nice to not feel like tourists.  The night got a little fuzzy after that, but slowly and surely Court and I are learning that we cannot drink like the Italians.  We are gonna need to slow it down from now on I think...

But that leads us to today!  We stayed in.  All day.  We were supposed to get up early and head to a winery in San Gimignano, but the thought of doing that after the night before was less than appetizing.  We decided to push it off one day and just spent the day cleaning up the apartment and resting...such is the life :)  We did have some great meals though on our lazy day...pasta with pancetta and green onions in the morning and chicken, potatoes and salad for dinner - our ode to America.  Oh did I mentioned we watched some episodes of Glee??  Court finally figured out how to trick her comp into letting us watch shows outside of the states and since we don't know how to work our tv it was awesome!  Although, it did make us sad that we will be missing the season premiere.  Man, when did I become a Gleek?

Ok ciao for now bebes!  Next up - winery!!!