Against all recommendations by every travel book and blog, we rented a car in Rome. We weren't gutsy enough, nor was it necessary to have it during our time in Rome but we did have to pick it up in and Rome and navigate our way out of the city.
As a pedestrian in Rome, you may think to yourself, "Are there any laws here?" or "Wow, I almost just died."
As a driver in Rome, you may think to yourself, "Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee."
To outsiders, driving in Rome seems like a suicide attempt but Jason described it as "controlled madness." He also said it was fun since it was like driving in a video game [which provided me little comfort at the time, as I braced for dear life because there are no lanes, no speed limits and very few rules at all. People cross streets whenever and cars park literally wherever.
Jason was a champ driving out of the city and for the next 6 days as we drove from Rome all the way around northern Italy only to return to Rome.
Driving through the Tuscan countryside was beautiful. Lots of green hills and very tranquil. The red roofed homes were straight out of Under the Tuscan Sun [remember Cortona, our first post? that is where that movie was filmed].
After Cortona we made it to Florence for a gorgeous sunset. This view is from the Piazza Michelangelo at the top of the city.
Needless to say this was a gorgeous night and a great way to start out in Florence. Our bed and breakfast was also so nice. We had a very large room in an old home of a lovely Florentine woman named Carla. She was hilarious and like the Italian grandmother I didn't know I had. We also had a great night with other guests from Turkey discussing American, Turkish, and Italian culture.
On our next and only full day in Florence we headed out to see the city and of course, the famous Florence Duomo, or cathedral of the city [pictured above and below].
It was beautiful outside, but to be honest, not as cool inside as I had imagined, I think its hard to compare other churches to the amazing ones of Rome. The doors above were gorgeous though and again, something I had studied extensively in art history.
Then I was lucky enough to spend 4 hours cooking with Carla in her kitchen making four traditional Tuscan dishes. Again, awesome. More will be told about this later on my food blog, The Apron Gal.
As a pedestrian in Rome, you may think to yourself, "Are there any laws here?" or "Wow, I almost just died."
As a driver in Rome, you may think to yourself, "Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee."
To outsiders, driving in Rome seems like a suicide attempt but Jason described it as "controlled madness." He also said it was fun since it was like driving in a video game [which provided me little comfort at the time, as I braced for dear life because there are no lanes, no speed limits and very few rules at all. People cross streets whenever and cars park literally wherever.
Jason was a champ driving out of the city and for the next 6 days as we drove from Rome all the way around northern Italy only to return to Rome.
Driving through the Tuscan countryside was beautiful. Lots of green hills and very tranquil. The red roofed homes were straight out of Under the Tuscan Sun [remember Cortona, our first post? that is where that movie was filmed].
After Cortona we made it to Florence for a gorgeous sunset. This view is from the Piazza Michelangelo at the top of the city.
Needless to say this was a gorgeous night and a great way to start out in Florence. Our bed and breakfast was also so nice. We had a very large room in an old home of a lovely Florentine woman named Carla. She was hilarious and like the Italian grandmother I didn't know I had. We also had a great night with other guests from Turkey discussing American, Turkish, and Italian culture.
On our next and only full day in Florence we headed out to see the city and of course, the famous Florence Duomo, or cathedral of the city [pictured above and below].
It was beautiful outside, but to be honest, not as cool inside as I had imagined, I think its hard to compare other churches to the amazing ones of Rome. The doors above were gorgeous though and again, something I had studied extensively in art history.
We spent the rest of the day exploring the city and just enjoying ourselves!
Florence done. Next stop: Venice!
That is such a dream! I can't wait to hear about the cooking experience!
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