When in Rome @kayliesromeblog - Tumblr Blog

Fun fetti cupcakes with purple frosting for the letters were waiting for me on the kitchen counter when I walked in the door! Thanks @mykennunes !!!!!!

Welcome home crew! So glad to be back in America!!

We went to El Tigre to get tapas and beers for lunch and then hit up Tierra Burrito for some burritos and nachos for dinner! Such a fun day and night :) love eating great food with this boy! #eltigre #tierraburrito

#eltigre #tierraburrito

Our day in Madrid! Starbucks and an art fair :) so fun! (at Plaza de España)

Yummm! Fun night with my boo @giannuzz at the Hard Rock Madrid! Now we can check this one off the list 😉 (at Hard Rock Cafe Madrid)

Christmas time in Madrid! <3 #madrid #christmastime (at Tiffany&Co.)

#madrid #christmastime

More pictures from our day trip to the Tuscan countryside!

Chianti and San Gimignano

On Friday, December 7th, we took a train from Florence to Siena, checked into our hotel in Siena and then left to meet our tour guide for our tour of Chianti and San Gimignano! We didn't know exactly what it was going to be like but our group only had one other couple in it and we got a private van to ride around in! Our first stop was this small little medieval town called Monteriggioni. They even had Christmas decorations up in this tiny town that held a population of about 8,000 people!

After spending about 40 minutes walking around this small fortress town, we got back in our car and we were off to Chianti! I was so excited because this was the wine tasting part of our tour! When we got there we were introduced to the owner of the farm. They didn't only produce wine there but also balsamic vinegar, olive oil, honey, and essential oils such as lavender and rosemary. We got to taste truffle oil, 8 year old balsamic, 2 of their special wines that were Chianti Classics and some of the honey with a piece of cheese.

we stopped on our way up to the vineyard to take pictures over looking the tuscan countryside

The room where all the balsamic was made!

The spread for tasting the olive oil, the truffle oil, the balsamic with tomatoes and garbanzo beans, and the honey with cheese!

After the wine tour we headed on to San Gimignano and the last part of our excursion! By this point it was raining pretty hard and it was absolutely freezing so we were getting a little tired out! We walked around San Gimignano for a little bit but because it was raining, cold and getting dark we ended up sitting in a cafe having hot chocolate and taking in the little town from the window table of our cafe. It was the perfect end to our eventful day!

Yummmmm best dinner at La Musa!!!! #somanytapas #handmadeguacamole @giannuzz (at La Musa)

#somanytapas #handmadeguacamole

Yum! Tapas and cervezas as a snack while shopping around! #tapas #eltigre (at El Tigre)

#tapas #eltigre

Spent the morning at Starbucks listening to Christmas music and drinking out of holiday cups! @giannuzz #madrid #starbucks #christmastime (at Starbucks Coffee)

#madrid #christmastime #starbucks

White elephant party in Madrid! I got some pretty groovy glasses Huh!!!???? (at NH Paseo del Prado)

More pictures from Florence! such a fun day!

Florence!

Last Thursday, the 6th of December, I had my Italian oral final and then went to the train station in Rome to meet Austin who had just flew in from Madrid and we set off on the train to Florence! The ride was only an hour and a half so it seemed like nothing compared to the 4 hour train ride I took to Venice the other weekend! Once we got to Florence, it was freezing! We set out to find our hostel which was right next to the train station actually! It was called Emerald Fields and it was a really cool looking hostel, if they had turned on the heat it would of been one of the best hostels we had stayed in! The owner gave us a map of the city and pointed out where all the big attractions were. Then we were off to explore the town. We walked down our street and ran into the Accademia where the David by Michelangelo is housed, but we didn't go in because we had decided on a different museum. Then we ran straight into the Duomo! it was huge, I couldn't believe it!

After looking at the Duomo from the outside we continued on because our reservation at the Uffizi Gallery Museum was at 2 pm and we were going to climb the Duomo afterwards. The next attraction after the Duomo was the Palazzo Vecchio.

This palace stood right in front of the Uffizi Gallery and it had copies of famous statues out in front, including a replica of the David. Passing the Uffizi Gallery, we hit the Arno River and had a great view of the Ponte Vecchio. This bridge is a medieval stone bridge that still houses shops that span across the entire bridge.

We got so lucky since it was such a sunny and beautiful day out! After seeing the Ponte Vecchio it was time for our reservation at the Uffizi Gallery, we couldn't take any pictures inside but Austin and I got to see a lot of the Italian Renaissance paintings we had previously studied. It was so cool being able to see paintings that we had studied from a picture and then getting to actually see the real thing and appreciate it! After our tour of the gallery, we went to a little market and I got Austin a nice florentine leather belt for Christmas! The lady we bought it from was so nice and was telling us how it was made and out of what materials!

view of the Ponte Vecchio from the Uffizi

Then we went to climb the Duomo! It was a really long climb up to the top and every time we thought we were almost there, there would be more stairs! Finally we made it up to the top just in time for dusk and it was a beautiful view!

Climbing up the Duomo!

view from the top!

inside the dome of the Duomo

After doing the climb, we walked around Florence looking at all the pretty Christmas lights! For dinner we went to Gusta Pizza because everyone who heard we were going to Florence recommended the place. It was packed when we got there but luckily someone saw us searching for seats and told us that they were leaving and we could take their place! It was really good pizza and we even had the special restaurant 'Gusta wine'.

New coat from Zara to bear the cold in Madrid! :)

Tapas at La Fabula and then Fro Yo for dessert at Smöoy! @giannuzz #tapas #froyo #lafabula (at La Fabula)

#tapas #lafabula #froyo

First candy canes of the season! @giannuzz (at Vips)

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When in Rome