This past year I have not kept in touch with all of you, my friends, like I should have done. My excuse is that I am a travel writer and since I have not been traveling, I really did not have anything much to write about. Today, though, I want to say Hello again and recap some of my favorite memories of travel.
If you have followed my blog for the past eleven years, you will know that every year since 2008, I have gone to Italy for extended periods of time. Italy is my favorite country and I truly have gone through withdrawal, not having gone there this past year. I have learned so much about the country and its marvelous people in the travels I have done there, as I travel independently and as Rick Steves says, I try to become a temporary local.
In 2014, I was conducting tours of Italy for some of my friends. Florence was our home base, but as you can see, my friends and I covered quite a bit of the country. One of my favorite things to do in Florence was go to the mercati. This is inside Mercato Centrale. My friends and I would buy fruit and vegetables in season, choosing what caught our eyes on any particular day. From the butcher, we would select meat to go with our vegetables. Then we would go back to our apartments and cook. Everyone helped and we truly enjoyed our meals at home. It was so good to come back to our apartment after a day of sightseeing and make a homemade dinner.