Florence 2011 vs 1990ish

Florence was my favorite city after visiting Italy when I was 14ish.  Why?  I just remember the ambiance being fantastic but beyond that I couldn't really tell you.  :)  This trip, my favorite city in Italy ended up being Venice.  But, I will say that I have fantastic memories of Florence since this is where I got to see my good friend Melanie, who I hadn't seen since I was in my early 20s!  And as a bonus, I got to meet her husband Nick!  It was all so very much fate deciding that we should see each other here as we happened to discover (through Facebook I will admit!) that we were both going to be in Florence the same exact days!  Amazing!  And then if that wasn't enough, my friend Sonja (of Africa trip fame) flew in from Germany and we hung out for a weekend in Florence/Pisa!

Florence pretty much rocked for both those reasons.