{Italy} Modena & Florence

Let's start today with the give away winner. First, I want to thank you ALL who entered. It was so fun to hear from so many people coming out of the proverbial "woodwork" and to hear your favorite Christmas songs. My random number generator, aka the Husband, picked #21 and that is my friend Laura from Markham Street Design! Laura's favorite Christmas song is "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas." Laura, congrats and I'll email you :)

Friends, I still have more to tell you about Italy! Previously, we talked about the amazing Cinque Terre. I have this post and one more to share with you about our Italian vacation that happened back in October. If you'd like to read my previous Italy posts, you can find them here. The last week of my time there, I stayed with a friend and traveled solo to a few different cities. I've been spreading out my posts over the last couple months because, well, this isn't a travel blog :). So, I hope you'll hang in with me for another post -- probably after the new year!

My last week was based out of Modena, at a friend's apartment. I shared her amazing 300-year-old apartment here. She is a very good friend from college and we have one of those friendships where no matter how long it's been since you've seen each other, you pick up where you left off. We had a blast. Modena itself is NOT touristy and there is very little English spoken/written. So, you can imagine her reading me an entire pizza menu one night while we were ordering take out. In the restaurant :). Modena has an amazing daily farmers market, which I navigated by myself in order to make dinner one night. Trying to describe that I wanted to buy cabbage was .... interesting!

Chris was in Modena for an afternoon before he flew home. We had lunch with my friend and a huge group of her friends at a winery/vinegary. It was a beautiful location, beautiful meal and FIVE hours later, we were practically best friends with everyone in the group! :)

One of the day trips I took during the week was to Florence. Have you been? It's so amazing. I spent a weekend there about 10 years ago and I'd forgotten just how much I loved it. Luckily, last time I was there I hit all the tourist spots, so this time I just spent a few hours wandering, exploring neighborhoods and people watching. It was fabulous.

I did visit the Florence Duomo again this time. I just can't get over the intricacy and detail in the architecture. It's such a work of art. On the left is the duomo from the ground. On the right is the ground from the top of the dome. Yikes!

Can you spot the neighborhood watch dog?? He was vicious for something so little!

After wandering for a few hours, I was exhausted! And still had a couple hours before my train. So obviously I found a seat at a cafe at the base of the duomo, ordered the largest gin and tonic I could find, a snack and read and relaxed for awhile. It was a seriously awesome day.

Do you guys travel by yourself? I've never done an multi-day trip by myself, but I do love a good day trip every once in a while. How about you?