Ciao Italia!: Mom's Trip to Italy

On Wednesday my mom and Patrick flew into Florence. It was a last minute trip, but I was super excited to show them around the city. I met them at their hotel after a brutal flight and no sleep. I took them down Via Tourbouni and then into my favorite piazza, Repubblica. After that I showed them the Duomo, Patrick had never heard of the Duomo before so it was funny to see his face when we turned the corner and were standing in front of it. I then took them to Salumeria Verde for lunch, which is my favorite sandwich shop. After that, I took them to the piazza next to my house, Santa Croce. I showed them my apartment and they were also impressed with the coziness. Later on we met up for appertivos across the bridge in a non-tourist part of Florence. We went to Nengrone for appertivos and to experience the Florentine lifestyle, and then we walked to Mama Gina’s for dinner. By this time Patrick was discussing his plans to move to Florence because of his love of Italian food and red wine, he was sold. After dinner we of course had to stop for gelato on the Ponte Vecchio to finish a very authentic day in Firenze.

On Thursday my mom and Patrick went on a tour of Siena and then on a wine tour while I had two class presentations. We met for dinner that night at Acqua al Due, which is a famous restaurant in Florence that recently opened another on Capitol Hill.

On Friday I met up with them around lunch time and took them to another sandwich place, Al’antico. We went to two different leather markets where I finally got dad the bag he wanted and Patrick bought some belts. After some vigorous shopping we sat outside at Gilli café in Piazza Repubblica for some cappuccinos and canolis. I then took my mom down my favorite shopping street Via Corso while Patrick was ripped off on art. We caught some sun and hung out in Santa Croce for a little before heading back to the Ponte Vecchio to jewelry shop. My mom had her nose pressed on each window for about 20 minutes. Earlier in the day Megan and Heather (my future Crawford roommates) had arrived in Florence. They were doing a 2 week tour of Europe after their semester in Barcelona ended. I left my mom and Patrick for the night and went to meet up with Meg and Heather and Nikki to have a roommate reunion dinner and night out. We went to pizzaiuolo for dinner and then back to the apartment to meet my roommates and get ready to go out. We all went to a new discoteca, Central Park, and had a lot of fun.

The next day I was supposed to meet my mom and Patrick at the train station at 6:30 am to go to Rome. Unfortunately I had a little too much fun the night before and woke up to a 6:40 am phone call from my mom. I got a taxi to the train station and surprisingly had money in my wallet to pay for it. I sprinted into the station, and we made it on the train with about 30 seconds to spare. Straight from the station we checked into their hotel and then were off to the Vatican museum for our 4 hour tour. The Vatican museum was the one thing in Rome that I still really wanted to see, which is why I went to Rome with them for the day. People had told me that it’s absolutely amazing if you get a great guide, sadly we didn’t. I also felt like we were on an ESL tour. So about 45 minutes in, we used our guide book and conquered the museum. After the museum we went to St Peter’s basilica, and I still really enjoyed it even after seeing it twice before. We then went to lunch, and after that I was sent back on a train to Florence to meet up with Heather and Megan. Nikki and I took them to Dante’s for a long Italian dinner, and since we were all still tired form the night before we just showed them the bars and walked around.

Sunday was mother’s day and my mom and Patrick got back into Florence sometime that night. We met for a mother’s day dinner in Borgo Antico and celebrated with a lot of good food and wine. After dinner Tiff and I took them to vivoli so they could try the world’s best gelato.

Monday afternoon I met my mom and Patrick after my exam for some lunch outside at Il Ghibilini Ristorante. I then took them to my grocery store to show them what I usually buy and what is offered. My mom kept saying Europeans must freak out when they come to America and go in a Costco. After that I took them to Piazza Beccheria which is on the outskirts of Florence. We met again later on to have drinks outside their hotel in piazza Repubblica and then made our way over to Piazzale Michealangelo. Piazzale Michealangelo has the prettiest view of Florence at sunset and I wanted to get some good mother daughter pictures there. Of course everyone had the same idea so it was super crowed. After that we went to Golden View Bar for dinner which is a nice restaurant adjacent to the Ponte Vecchio and has a great view of the water and city. We had a great long Italian dinner in a not so typical restaurant in Florence.

Tuesday I had a review class for my Italian final and was studying for my other finals for most of the day. I opted out of dinner to get my work done but of course met up with them later to send them off with one last gelato. They left early this morning to go back to home and “reality”. Lucky for them it will only be 3 days before I see them again!

Having both of my parents come visit me was by far one of my favorite experiences while abroad. I grew up with two people who had a love of the Italian food and culture, but had yet to experience it first hand. I am so glad that I got to show both of them around my favorite European city.