Italy Trip - Florence (Part 2)

* I have obtained all the originals from my photo taking counterparts on this trip, so be prepared for lots of photos!


After all the mishaps of the first part of our day in Florence (which did not even include mention of Dan and Lisa's room situation - everywhere we went their room was made up with separate beds, ha!) we set out to change our luck!

With the Herndons in tow we did a lot of this:

The one sight that we did not need a map to find was definitely the Duomo. It was about a block from our hotel!

We headed inside, where Haley rocked the disposable cover, since she didn't have her cardigan...

Make it work!

Once we visited the Duomo, we knew we had a little bit of time before heading back tot he hotel to rest up and get ready for our fancy pants dinner. Haley and Jess remembered from their former trip a really pretty church that we then referred to as "The Jewish Church"

 Replica photo, how many years later ladies?

 The church was sadly closed for visitors, but we spotted a cute little bistro on the square, and as it had been approximately one hour since our last stop for refreshment, we decided, why not?

The ladies, and Austin, ordered prosecco...

Justin ordered the "large" beer. And, large it was.

in comparison to the small, a difference of maybe one Euro

Following our refreshments, we all headed back to the hotel to get ready for our dinner. After our, um, eventful first day in Florence we decided to reward ourselves with a really nice (read: expensive) dinner. Our concierge recommended a place and made reservations for us.

As our taxis began careening through the streets, suddenly we realized we were in for a special treat. When they finally pulled into our restaurant we were literally overlooking the entire city of Florence.

When we arrived, we all audibly gasped. Our restaurant looked like this

With a view like this...

So we took some time to take advantage of the scene

I have pretty friends

Dan also took a second to pose as David after Lisa proclaimed that Dan looked "just like" David

We headed inside for what would be a four hour dinner with fabulous food and friends, stopping every few minutes to take in our view.

We got to ordering, and we ordered almost one of every thing on the menu, and then we just passed it around. I think the chef loved us.

By the end of the meal, we had consumed a lot of food, a lot of Chianti made by the students at the university, and shared a lot of laughs. Of the main dishes there were mostly amazing successes, though we did manage to confirm Justin's fish allergy after eating the sea bass. (Have you ever seen Hitch? I am so sad I didn't get a picture. Glad you are just fine Justin!)

At the end, the boys contested that the huge piece of meat was so good, that they had to get every last bit off the bone.

Gross.

After dinner we headed back to the hotel, changed into flats and hit the town. We grabbed some more refreshments, the boys bought us roses from a street vendor and all of the bars played American music. We even kept the parents out until 2 am! ;)