Firenze

Florence is utterly breathtaking. I walked by this church the night I arrived, after which I got lost in the very confusing and often unmarked streets. The next day I saw the Palazzo Vecchio...

...with its frescoed lobby...

...the beautiful river running through the center of the city...

...and the lush, expansive Boboli Gardens.

They reminded me of Minneapolis in the summer. The space under the canopy of the trees was quiet and filled with dappled green light, a oasis in an already sublime place.

Near the back there was a terrace with stunning views of the Tuscan countryside.

Also, this statue.

By late afternoon, it was warm and sunny enough for gelato! In the shops here it is piled up in these giant, swirly heaps.

Now, if you saw "Nutella" as the label on a bin of gelato, you would probably assume it meant nutella-flavored gelato, right? Well, you'd be wrong. Instead, I got a giant scoop of straight nutella next to my pistachio gelato. I never thought I would say this, but it was, perhaps, too much Nutella. Delicious though.

 

The next day I did a bunch wandering around the city. The Duomo is absolutely incredible!

There are bakeries on every other corner, offering specialties like panforte, a dense, delicious confection made with dried fruit and nuts, and sometimes spices or citrus.

There is also torrone, thick slabs of nuts mixed with sugar and egg whites to form a chewy, meringue-like candy. I have a stash in my bag.

And of course, this being Italy, there was pizza. My good friend Rachel is studying abroad here, and took me to one of her favorite pizza places. We shared one with roasted vegetables and one with fresh tomatoes and mozzarella. So good!

My other favorite thing from Italy was the blood oranges. Sweet and juicy, with peels tinged with pink and scarlet flesh, their flavor is more complex than that of regular oranges. They release the most wonderful perfume when peeled - in Rome I walked by the open window of a truck and could smell the scent of a fresh orange wafting from the cab.

Now it's on to Morocco for more delicious food and new things to see!