italee: Birthday Weekend

Yes I did have a birthday. What did I do for it you may ask. Well I was in Italy, isn't that the best way to celebrate a birthday?

The weekend was my ideal weekend. My birthday was on a Saturday and for some reason it seems people like to leave on the weekends so Thursday night a group of friends and I went to this fancy shmancy restaurant 'Golden View' which looks over the Ponte Vecchio. Afterwards we did go get a drink and then of course more importantly we went and got pastries at this place known as the 'Secret Bakery'. Let me explain this amazing place. Literally it's a secret place that does all the baking for the café's around Florence during the night (only open from midnight to 3 or so). There's no sign or anything, it's either you know about it or you don't. It's a door in a side street with a sign that says 'please be quiet' which you approach, knock and wait to see if someone wants to serve you. There's no menu/list, you simply have to ask and hope they have what you want or just get whatever they offer. That night the pastry of choice was a donut with nutella. Simply amazing. I must say that was a great kickoff for the birthday weekend.

Let me also explain that during my birthday weekend there was also a huge cultural festival going on in Florence. One of the main attractions was the copy of this guy known as 'David' who they moved around to a few locations which they think he was originally commissioned for. He stared on top, yes top, of the Duomo and then the next was moved down to in front on the side and then one more place. Also that weekend they put grass down in front of the Duomo and Baptistery for a day. It was crazy! So Friday Alyssa and I embraced it all and went to some of the special markets, saw the grass, and of course shopped.

We also took the opportunity to see the real 'David' at the Accademia. He's a good looking guy I won't lie. Much better looking in person too :) It's incredible really how on earth Michelangelo did it, also in a such a short time.

Saturday the 13th, the day I entered this world 21 years ago brought a relaxing morning filled with too many cupcakes/pastries from friends. I swear, some people get alcohol on their 21st, I got sweets, even better :D Once again, gift shopping and wandering (my favorite activites here) took place in the afternoon and then that evening another small group of friends and I went out to dinner. It was a place we hadn't been before and well…I ended up with a whole chicken on my plate. That should enlighten you as to how amazing that dinner was. From there we met up with a few more people at our apartment for a bit, and then hit the town again which once again the highlight was making the Secret Bakery the final stop of the night. The next morning everyone from the night before met up again to go for brunch to the 'American Diner' and had a delicious American Breakfast.

I love birthday's that cover a whole weekend. I've never really had big birthday parties, so those aren't my thing. Instead it was a perfect weekend with good food, good wine, good friends, in a wonderful setting.