I woke up on the morning of my birthday, 41 years old and in Florence. Heaven.
Paul woke up on the morning of my birthday in Florence with the dreaded stomach bug we had all been passing around. More accurately, he was up all night with the dreaded stomach bug. Poor guy had planned an entire birthday surprise excursion for me and had to bow out in favor of spending the day around the toilet. Hell.
After Paul made the decision to bail, he had to spill the beans to me on the birthday plan and wow, what a plan! Paul had arranged for all of us to spend the day riding Vespas in the countryside, stopping at wineries and having a gorgeous tasting lunch. I felt even worse for him after I found out what a fun day we were going to have.
Our guides picked us up at a café where we were all happily stuffing our faces with Nutella-filled croissants. We drove outside of Florence to the gorgeous surrounding countryside where it was time to learn how to drive our Vespas.
Spoiler alert – I am not great at driving Vespas. I am really not great at it. So not great that Daniel, our cute tour guide (wait, have I mentioned yet that he was really cute?) spent the entire time yelling, “Easy on the gas” in my direction. Not to play into the outdated and completely ridiculous stereotype of women drivers, but I was definitely nervous and struggling and wishing that Paul was there to drive for me. That said, I was absolutely not going to let Nora see me fail and ask anyone to drive for me, which was suggested more than once by our guides. I eventually picked it up enough that the guides were willing to let me try to set out on the roads myself.
I am so, so glad that I didn’t give up on myself. Driving through the Italian hills with the sun shining down and gorgeous vinyards surrounding us and giant Italian Cypress trees popping up along the way was something straight out of every Italian romance movie you’ve ever seen. I kept reminding myself to take it all in. I wanted to soak up every second of the day. I wanted to be present and grateful that this was how I was celebrating another year here.
First, we stopped at a little winery, Tenuta Torciano, (don’t worry, they only gave us a glass) to sit and take in the scenery with some refreshing white wine and bread and olive oil. The perfect pit stop if you ask me. Definitely beat Buccees.
From there, we drove on to San Gimignano, known as the Town of Fine Towers, and home to the two-time world champion gelateria, Gelateria Dondoli. After a tour of the medieval city, complete with our very own gelato tasting, we were released to explore and shop and just enjoy walking around for a bit.
From San Gimignano, they loaded us all in a van and drove us back to the winery where we started for a very special five course meal complete with wine pairings (lots and lots of wine pairings). The food, ribollita and lasagna, was absolutely delicious, which of course, feels like a redundant statement when we are talking about Italy.
And, the wine….well it was flowing! It was an absolutely perfect birthday lunch, except for missing my sweet husband. I felt so badly for him knowing he was missing out on all the fun. But, on the bright side, they kept filling Paul’s empty place, including wine glasses, so we got bonus servings!
We ended the tour with a celebratory sabrage, where yours truly got to (attempt to) open the champagne bottle with a sabre. Talk about a day to remember!
I realize that I haven’t talked about the kids yet. The kids were living their best lives! Daniel, our very cute guide, drove all of the kids ahead of us in a little red Tuk-Tuk. He was letting them take turns DJing and jammed out to all their favorite songs. They were smiling ear to ear all day long. And after our lunch, while the adults relaxed and enjoyed digestivos, Daniel took the kids to feed the farm animals and they even got their very own vespa rides. Honestly, the way they took care of our kids while allowing us to fully enjoy our adult time is one of the things that made the entire excursion so, so special.
Once we got back to the apartment, Paul was feeling better, but not quite right, so Rebecca and I snuck back out in the evening for some more birthday celebrations. We started at La Managere for cocktails and snacks. I highly recommend La Managere if you’re looking for a unique boutique restaurant with a chic atmosphere. We finished off the birthday celebration in the absolute best way possible. French fries and prosecco.
Listen, I know that birthdays aren’t everyone’s thing. I recognize there are plenty of people who don’t give a flip about celebrating turning a year older and those people think people like me, the ones who love celebrating their big day in big ways, are absolutely crazy. To that I say, let me be crazy! My 41st birthday was just what a birthday should be, a celebration of life surrounded by loved ones. It sounds trite, but it was a day I will never forget.
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