John and CB's Most Excellent Adventure

After a lovely few days in London, we took off for Milan and our first holiday as a family of 3.  We’ve traveled before with family and friends, but this was our first solo adventure.  And, we had a marvelous time.  Case in point–this is the longest blog entry I think I’ve ever posted!  So buckle up–here we go!

We arrived in Milan late in the evening.  We had to get creative with bath time for Conrad–had to document it here!

We had one day in Milan before catching an evening train to Florence.  We tried to make the most of it!

Then we climbed to the roof top of the Cathedral.  Gorgeous.

Next, we headed to the world’s oldest shopping mall, Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II.

Next, we caught the late afternoon train to Florence.  Conrad slept almost the whole way (save the last 15 minutes).  At the beginning of the journey, the train attendant passed out snacks and prosecco.  It was my kind of journey!

After checking in to our B&B in Florence, we headed to a local place for dinner.  Although a Roman speciality, John had his favorite, Cacio e Pepe.  It turns out it was the best version of the dish we had on our whole trip!

The next morning, we headed to the Galleria dell’Accademia the home of Michelangelo’s famous David.  The gallery was purpose-built for the display and made the statue even more striking.

Next, we headed to the Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore, home of the beautiful Duomo.

For lunch, we stopped at the San Lorenzo Market.  It’s a gorgeous food market that includes hot ready-to-eat dining options upstairs.  Too bad our little man wasn’t eating solids yet…

Next, we circled back around to the Duomo.  Florence is actually quite a small city, so we were able to walk everywhere quite quickly.

We wanted to get the little guy back for a nap, so we headed back to our B&B, crossing Ponte Vecchio on the way.

That evening, we had reservations to climb to the top of the Duomo.  I’d done TONS of research on doing this with a baby and found many people saying they would NEVER bring a baby on this particular adventure.  Ironically, most of these people admitted they didn’t have a baby or a child at all!  I did find a few brave souls who had done it with little ones and they all had one thing in common:  they were glad they did it!!!  Of course we were going to wear him (hauling a stroller up would have been impossible) and take our time to carefully ascend.  So glad we made this decision:  one of our favorite family pictures from the whole trip was at the top of the Duomo 🙂

Once we made it to the very top, we were met by a few people clapping–haha.  Conrad enjoyed the climb and really enjoyed all of the attention!

The views were worth it!

And now for the descent.

Throw us in with the parents who are glad they made the climb, little one in tow.  It’s definitely not something everyone will want to do with their baby.  We’ve climbed lots of domes and bell towers in our day and Conrad is a pretty easy-going baby so it made sense for us 🙂

The next morning we set out for the Uffizi Gallery, a gorgeous art museum featuring works from the Italian Renaissance.

We grabbed some coffees on the rooftop deck overlooking the Palazzo Vecchio (or rather, the Palazzo overlooking us!)

One of the biggest joys of our trip was watching Conrad discover new things.  His reactions in the museums are something that we will always remember.

Conrad would either become bored with a painting and start looking around or kick excitedly at what he saw.  I wish I knew what was going on in his brain–such a delight to watch!

Next stop, lunch!  We sat down at a pizzeria in the beautiful Piazza della Signoria and enjoyed the beautiful weather, another view of the Palazzo Vecchio (you can see the replica David statue in the bottom of the photo), and a baby nap 🙂

We then circled back around to the Cathedral to visit the Baptistry and the famous doors!

Our day ended with a lovely walk through The Boboli Gardens and some gorgeous Florence views.

The next morning it was time for a ROADTRIP!!!  After a lovely few days in Florence, we drove through the Tuscan Hills to our next destination, just outside of Cortona.  On the way, we stopped in Siena to see the sights and for a quick bite.

After wandering the beautiful medieval streets, we found the Cathedral with unusual striped columns!

After taking in the sights of Siena, we got back in the car and drover farther south in Tuscany to Locanda del Molino, an inn/B&B a few miles from Cortona.

Conrad did so well while touring the cities–we were excited to give him a little countryside break, where he could really slow down, stretch out and enjoy himself.

For dinner that night, we went downstairs to the dining room, where they serve delicious Tuscan food and pizzas straight from the pizza oven.

The staff at Locanda del Molino are INCREDIBLE.  We met the nicest people and they took to Conrad (aka Conrado) immediately!

After an easy morning, we set out to explore Cortona–a cute little Tuscan town on a hilltop.  You may have seen it in Under the Tuscan Sun!

After climbing higher into the town to see a beautiful church, we came back down to the town square for lunch!

That evening, we returned to Locanda del Molino where I did a cooking class and learned to make panzanella, pizza, and a dessert similar to an English trifle!  The class was taught by Chef Silvia Baracchi, whose restaurant Il Falconiere has a Michelin Star.  She was a delight–giving us serious instruction, but also making it fun.  I had never made pizza in a pizza oven before (I didn’t do that at Le Cordon Bleu) and I had a great time learning to use a the peel!

John and I then got to sit down and enjoy the spoils of my labor.  Conrad was entertained by his new friends!  They wanted to give him some prosciutto and were shocked to learn he was only 4 months old!  Only milk for this big boy 😉

The next morning we went to Locanda del Molino’s sister location, Il Falconiere (where Silvia Baracchi’s restaurant and vineyards are located).

After the tour, we had a wine tasting.  Three of the options came with the meal we were going to have at the restaurant, but we first got to sample some sparkling wine.  The sparkling wine had sediment in the bottom, so the only way to open it was via saber.  This pleased John who quickly volunteered to open the bottle.  Our tour guide taught him how to do it and John successfully opened the wine!  Now he wants a wine saber for Christmas!

After some successful sabering, we went into the Il Falconiere restaurant for our lunch and wine tasting.  Needless to say, the meal was stunning.

And now for the food photos.  We enjoyed the meal immensely–so much that we forgot to take a photo of the main course!

After a delightful meal, we headed back to Locanda del Molino for some chill time.

Our last full day in Tuscany, we started with a wine tour at Avignonesi!

Conrad developed an appreciation for wine whilst in Tuscany.  No we didn’t give him any–but he seems to love the color and watching as we drink it!  Not a bad intro to the wine world, little guy!

After a lovely dinner, we went back to Locanda del Molino to say goodbye to all of the sweet new friends we made!  Anna Maria asked if she could hold Conrad, as the kitchen was asking to see him.  A few minutes later, we were invited back and found this:

The next morning, we packed up our car ready to head out on the last leg of our trip–a Roma!

After arriving in Rome, we set off in search of one of our favorite pizzerias from our last visit.  It was located behind the Coliseum.

Sadly, the pizzeria had closed, but it’s sister restaurant down the street was open.  And, they had a pizza oven!  Two marinara pizzas later, we were off to explore!

We hit several of our favorite highlights during our first afternoon.

Then Conrad took a snack break on the Spanish steps.

Then, we gave Conrad his first taste of adult food–lemon GELATO!  We figure, go big or go home.  Needless to say he LOVED it.

We only gave him a couple of tastes, but he gladly would have had more.

After dinner, we went to our favorite coffee joint in Rome, Sant Eustachio Il Cafe.  The double espressos are incredible!

After a packed first day, we took it easy on our second morning, then headed out to the local market at Campo de’ Fiori.

Then we walked over to the Vatican for our third and final country of the trip!

Conrad slept the whole time 🙂

Then we wandered the lovely streets of Rome!

After an amazing vacation, we packed up the next morning to head back to Philly.

We had a wonderful first holiday as a family of 3.  Conrad was a trooper and seemed to really enjoy the family time!  He did great with all of the new experiences (including the long flights) and it was fun to watch him discover new things and delight in being spoken to in Italian.   Of course we had our challenges (think diaper changes on our laps, perfectly timed spit-ups, etc.), but it was so totally worth it.  I know he won’t remember this specific trip, but we are continuing our family travel tradition with him.  Plus, we will show him pictures 😉

Can’t wait for our next adventure with our little man!  Thanks for reading!