Boboli in Bloom

We went for a walk through Boboli today. It was overcast and cool -- exactly the weather you need when walking the long, steep hills in the park. The grass was freshly cut and flowers in bloom. Spring in Florence is so beautiful.

Our House Hunters Episode is Online (We Think)

We always know when reruns of our House Hunters International episode air because we wake up to the nicest messages in our inbox from people seeing it for the first time. If you're new to our blog and found us via the show...welcome!

Since the episode originally aired last year, we've had lots of people ask us if the video is available online. From what we can tell, it was recently added to HGTV.com. Since we're located in Italy, we can't watch the video, but from the thumbnail on the site it looked legit. If you have trouble watching the embedded version above, try accessing it from the HHI page on HGTV.com.

Bike Tour of Florence, Italy

I hadn't been on a bike since we moved to Florence. But, when we received an email from Italy by Cruiser Bike offering to take us on a "molto romantico" bike tour of Florence, I jumped at the chance.

Only later did I stop to consider that: Italian drivers are crazy, Italian traffic laws are nearly non-exisent and that the offer was for two. Meaning my, how do I say this nicely -- ballence-challenged, pregnant wife was invited along for the ride. Why not go, right?

Well I did, but we decided that Kate had better sit this one out. So, that meant I was one person short for a sunset bike tour of Florence. Luckily, my friend Tommaso was available, so he joined me for the tour, which took place on the only evening that it hasn't rained in this city for the last few weeks.

We started the tour at 6pm, which left us a lot of sunlight for the tour, even this early in the year. It was a small group, probably 8 of us total and we all spoke English. Everyone was really excited a living, breathing, real-life Italian (Tommaso) showed up to join us. The people at Italy by Cruiser Bike thought he was lost at first (who takes a tour of their hometown?), but that's understandable.

All of the major sites were on the route: The Duomo, Bapitstry, Palazzo Medici, Innocenti, Santa Croce, Palazzo Pitti, Ponte Vecchio, and Piazza della Repubblica. There were also others you might not expect: the English Cemetery, Piazza Beccaria, Ponte San Niccolo and lots of time on the bike trail that borders the Viale. Unfortunately, we had to skip Santa Maria Novella and a couple of nearby places because we were running late due to a few slow pokes on our tour...fellow countrymen of ours, I'm sad to admit. Hey Americans: get off your butts and start exercising...you're ruining the bike tour for the rest of us :-)

I have to say, I've seen all of these places before, with the exception of the English Cemetery, and they were much better by bike. I know that a bike may not be everyone's idea of a great way to get around, but I'm increasingly convinced that people who hold that opinion haven't been on a bike in years. Biking around Florence was fun and surprisingly easy. I immediately came home and started begging Kate to let me get a bike.

So, if you are visiting Florence and looking for a great way to see the city,
give Italy by Cruiser Bike a call. We highly recommend them!

The highly-requested (by Georgette and Kate) romantic bridge photo:

Rob's Typical Lunch

With the rain coming down non-stop, we thought we'd share one of the things the rain can't put a damper on - my typical lunch. Is it healthy? Who knows. But I swear by it.

Above, in the sandwich, is tomato, pecorino di pistoia, and finocchiona. In case you've never had finocchiona its a Tuscan speciality, salami made with fennel, which is found more or less all around Florence. The bread is ciabatta, from the bakery down the street.

Rainy days here in Florence

I'm well aware that Tuscany desperately needed this rain, but my goodness all of these dreary days are starting to take a toll! The only saving grace is that constant rain is rare here, so two hours of downpour is typically followed by a half hour of sun.

While we might be a little depressed, our garden is loving the weather -- sprouts are popping up like crazy! Here's hoping it helps our our harvest be more than the single tomato from last year. This year we're trying for two types of tomatos, zucchini, cucumber and peppers. Fingers crossed!