Back to Reality - Vacation Recap

The husband and I spent last week in Dauphin Island, Alabama.  What a gorgeous place!

We had nothing on our agenda besides relaxing.  It was a much needed break.

Sammy and Bauer made the trip with us and they loved being beach bums.

Bauer and Sammy being bums.

This was Bauer's first road trip with us and he did great!  On the way to the beach he did a little whining in the car, I think he wasn't sure why we were in the car so long.  As long as I reached out and pet him he'd settle right back down and sleep.  On the way home he was quiet and cozy the whole way.  He's a good boy.

He and Sammy did some good car snuggling.

While we were on vacation the husband and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary (and the 7th anniversary of the day the he proposed on an Alabama beach).  Romantical!

I got a little blue box containing a beautiful necklace with a W on it...love.

Good work husband.  You are too good to me.

In the middle of the week my sister, brother-in-law, and nieces joined us for beach fun.

 

Look how gorgeous my girls are!  My sister had the great idea to hire a photographer to get some pictures of all of us on the beach.  Obviously I took some pictures while this was happening too.

And a few selfies.

Sisters!

Bauer loved all the snuggles from his cousins who adore him.

Our boy is definitely living the good life now.

View from the deck of our house.

This was our first time to stay on Dauphin Island and it was wonderful.  The town is a very lazy beach town and the beach was not at all crowded.  We rented a house from Boardwalk Realty and they are fantastic! They really take care of their renters and make it super easy to check in and out. Our house was right on the water and it was very reasonably priced for a week at the beach in the middle of summer.  We will definitely go back!  In fact, can I go now?

Pelicans!

We made many trips to Skinner's Seafood to pick up fresh seafood to cook.  They had wonderful freshly caught seafood and it was all delicious!  If you are ever on the island and want to cook some fresh seafood you didn't catch yourself, go see them and they will hook you up.  Lol...hook you up.

I hope your week was half as fun and relaxing as mine!

Florence Recap

Florence was beautiful.  The city, the art, the food.  The David alone is life changing.

Okay, this is not the marble David, but I was not allowed to take pictures of him.  This one is a copper replica.  Here is the marble.

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This one is life changing and was by far the most amazing piece of art I saw in Florence.  The detail in this statue is insane.  He has veins in his hands, arms and feet.  It is breath taking.  The David is located in the Galleria dell'Accademia and he is waiting around the first corner you turn.  When you go into the museum there is a large room with paintings which we spent some time in and then you exit into a long corridor room.  The space is massive, because, honestly the David is massive.  He is 17 feet tall and is standing on top of a tall pedestal (which he deserves).  When you enter the second room you are at the opposite end from the David.  Once you turn your head and realize he is there, there is nothing you can do besides stop in your tracks and stare in awe.  It is that amazing.  There are no words.

Since there are no words, I will transition to telling you about all three museums we visited in Florence.  All of them have amazing art work.  We visited Academia, Uffizi and the Bargello.  As I mentioned the Academia houses the David.  The husband and I kind of felt a little sad for all the other art that is displayed there.  We spent about 3 hours in the museum and most of that time we spent circling the David and viewing it from different angles.  Life. Changing.

The Uffizi houses some of the most amazing paintings in the world.  Including Botticelli's The Birth of Venus.

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The Bargello has amazing sculptures.  Most of which are carved from marble.  All are mind blowing when you think about how they started as massive pieces of rock.

Like I stressed in my Venice Recap post, I HIGHLY recommend that when you are visiting places like these you buy your tickets online in advance.  The husband is a planner, and I love him for that.  We arrived in Italy with tickets for all these places in hand (or at least paid reservation slips that we exchanged for tickets).  Doing this saves SO MUCH time.  The lines for these museums were blocks and blocks long.  We were able to pass those lines right up.  Take some time for the planning before you go.  You will not be sorry.

On to the city.  Oh, the city.

Hello Gorgeous.

I miss you.

The Arno River flows through the city and it is beautiful.
 

The day we visited the Academia we walked back from the museum to our hotel over the course of the afternoon.  The museum was not close to the hotel, but it was a great way to see the city.  We ate at the restaurant on the right under the green awning over the river. Fantastic view!

 We saw lots of town squares with beautiful buildings and churches.

These newlyweds were very popular on the river.

Our most amazing dining experience, for so many reasons was at Il Santo Bevitore.  For one the food was amazing.

Second, one of my college roommates grew up in Florence and her friend owns and runs this amazing restaurant.  I highly recommend it...call them, you will need reservations.

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The service was amazing and we were seated outside on this cute patio.  We chatted with the other couple that was out there and they were very nice.  It was a lovely evening.

And finally, our hotel.  The Hotel David.  I cannot not say enough good things about this hotel.  It is no wonder it is number one on TripAdvisor.

The hotel is precious, the staff is wonderful, the price is great, breakfast is included, and they have happy hour on the patio each evening.  If that was not enough...they welcome you with a hand written note and tiny cake in your room...

...there is a pretty well stocked fridge and snack bar in your room that is complimentary and they have an honor bar downstairs.  When it is not happy hour you can make the drink of your choice and just write it down.  This was definitely tied with one other hotel as my favorite from our trip.  I loved it.  The extra bonus surprise?  A washer dryer...that's right, we left Florence the half way point in our journey with a suitcase full of clean clothes.  Thank you Hotel David.  We enjoyed our stay.

Selfie at the Uffizi.

Ah, Florence.



Have a great day!!

Weekend Recap

We are back from Italy and mostly back in the swing of everyday life.  It is good to be home...I missed you guys!

My weekend was fairly boring, a lot of around the house stuff, so instead of boring you with that I thought I would bombard you with vacation pictures...my fave ones captured by my phone.  The pictures from the actual camera are not edited and ready, but will be coming soon along with reviews of our hotels and tours.

And now...phone pictures!

Venice

Florence

 

Volterra

Pisa

The Vatican

Rome

It is possible that it was a mistake to do this post on a Monday because now I really wish I was still on vacation!

I hope you have a fantastic Monday and your week ahead treats you well.