Mom and Cesca Visit Italy! (Florence and Perugia)

As I sit here on the computer, it has been a few hours since I had to say goodbye to Cesca and my mom at the train station. After spending like 5 days with them, it was rough to say the least. But I’m not going to dwell on it because we had a wonderful time! It may take me a while to update on our whole week, so please be patient!

Saturday was Cesca and mom’s first day in Italy. They arrived in Rome and were going to meet me in Florence to begin their journey. After waiting around at the train station, I finally saw them getting off a train. I was a bit worried when the first thing my mother said to me was “You are worth it Tina, because that was awful!” I was a bit concerned that the rough start they had had on their journey would hinder the rest of it. Luckily, this was not the case. Mom ended up being a champ and soldiering through everything we put her through, and I think she enjoyed herself along the way!

I had scouted out our hotel before their arrival, so I knew exactly where to take them. After depositing their luggage, we decided to hit up the Galleria d’Accademia to see the David. My mom loved it; it is pretty impressive, not gonna lie. I spent the remainder of the day taking pictures of random things that my mother wanted me to. She’s not very good with the camera, so it fell to Cesca and I to capture the memories. Since they were jetlagged and tired, we found a place for dinner and turned in early.

Sunday was a bit more filled. Cesca and I dropped mom off at the Uffizi (because I refuse to look at rooms upon rooms filled with pictures of “Madonna and Child” unless I absolutely have to) because we had already seen it, and went shopping. This turned into a major long trip because it took mom FOREVER to get into the gallery. We wandered around both markets, which we discovered was not a great idea. See, vendors at the market try to do anything to get you to buy stuff, and that includes yelling about the pretty twins walking by (even in Italy, we are a spectacle) which makes me tense and anxious, so we skipped the rest of the market to shop around more normal shops. I ended up getting a new pair of boots and a real leather jacket that I had been gunning for. It’s currently being altered and I have to pick it up soon.

Mom's first gelato in Italy!

These are the types of things my mom
asks me to take pictures of...

our hostel in Florence

In front of the Duomo 

Mom camera fail- she only got most of the
street, not the tower LOL

Lots of statues

Mom aspires to be like this
cute old couple

we wandered over to Santa Croce while wating
for mom

Dante!

This is our favorite pigeon

This man was a one man band!

After mother finally had her fill of baby Jesus paintings, we wandered over to Ponte Vecchio to look at jewelry we will never be able to afford. We also wandered around the Piazza della Signoria, which has replicas of lots of famous statues. Mom wanted a picture of like every one, so that took some time. After dinner, I had to return to Siena as academic life was calling, while they headed on to Perugia for the day. I didn’t go with, but here are some pictures of their adventures!

Cesca went back to see some friends at the Umbra Institute 

KEBAB

Mom taking in the views

The park we loved so much

Perugia at night

I'll update more tomorrow! Ciao for now!