A room with a view

I love Florence! When I was in college in Idaho, and hating it, I planned to spend my junior year abroad. I found a program in London for the fall semester and studied there with Ms. H. Ms. HG found a program in Florence for the spring semester. I will be eternally grateful to my parents for giving me that opportunity. For part of our curriculum we took a Byzantine and Early Renaissance history class which gave us the opportunity to go on field trips all over Tuscany and Umbria to see frescoes and statues. One of the places we went was San Gimignano, the Manhattan of Tuscany, because of all the medieval towers. As we drove away at dusk I memorized the view in my mind. At 20 I hoped I'd return to Italy one day, but San Gimignano seem like such an obscure destination that I'd never be back. Imagine my surprise when I learned that the wedding to end all weddings would taking place a few miles away!
I was happy to return to Florence with Mr. W and be able to show him all my old haunts. I was disappointed Ms. HG wouldn't be able to be there with me though. Since we were sharing a villa in Volterra with Mr. & Mrs. K we wouldn't have too much time in Florence so I had to make the most out of it. They would be heading south to finish their trip, but our time in Florence would coincide with Mr. & Mrs. F.
We stayed at different hotels though. Ours was along the Arno and at the foot of the high end shopping street. While we didn't have a river view from our room, the view from the terrace was breathtaking. Breakfast was served with a view of il duomo. It was so awesome; I wished that we could have a few more days here.It was hard to pull ourselves away, but we did so that we could see a few sights. I found another passamenterie shop but unfortunately couldn't think of anything else I needed to purchase. I also wanted to get a Pinocchio as a souvenir for the littlest W. Since the author Carlo Collodi was from Florence, there are little wooden puppets for sale all over the place. On our way to Santa Croce, my favorite church in Florence, we came across this adorable little wood shop. This was the perfect place to find our Pinocchio!We never made it to the altri Arno to have a picnic at San Miniato after listening to the Gregorian chanting. So I also never had a chance to search the artists' shops and studios there for beveled drawer pulls. We also never made it to my school or dozens of other sights. We will just have to return to Florence!
It was a wonderful babymoon alone with Mr. W before we welcome our next son into the world. I'm happy we were able to make it here to celebrate with Mr. & Mrs. Z. There was definitely a lot of stress not knowing how our IF would effect this trip. I hated having to RSVP 'yes' qualifying it with it all depends upon whether I can get pregnant again or not. But it all worked out in the end. And I was only moderately embarrassed being introduced to guests at the wedding who would respond, "Oh, I met you at the bachelor party!" or "So this is the baby from the bachelor party!" I kept trying to explain to people that is not the way it worked out, but Mr. Z said to me, "We are all going to tell this baby he was conceived at HD: TBP. You just have to accept it." I'm so grateful that I am finally pregnant that I think I will do just that.