But we had been to Florence for a few days last summer and I really wanted to return. It's probably cliched to love Florence so much. It's really one giant tourist trap, but we couldn't help ourselves. It's a good place to get lost in, so we went anyway.
We got off to a shaky start because we happened to be flying on the same day those explosive printer cartridges were found in the cargo shipment in Europe. Our terminal was evacuated once. And then, after we had waited in an excruciatingly long security line and when we were only two people away from placing our bags on the conveyor, it was evacuated AGAIN. Then we waited in ANOTHER excruciatingly long security line. Then we missed our flight. It all worked out, though, because they put us on the next flight and we got to Florence around noon.
Our hotel had a neat little balcony (and free wireless!). Dave managed to procure a bottle of wine and some sandwiches while I prepped for a conference call.
We got really lucky with absolutely perfect weather on the first day. Since we like to spend the entire day walking the streets, rain would have definitely put a damper on things. We ogled ancient architecture, walked all over the maze of streets, shopped, shopped and shopped, ate and drank and overall had a pretty good time.
I'd been craving gelato for weeks. We stopped at the
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| See? It's a mouse, with cookie ears! |
Dave claims he's a big fan of David Rocco, the chef on the Cooking Channel, but I suspect that he's a bigger fan of David Rocco's wife, Nina. Here's Nina:
See? Anyway, David Rocco is filmed in Florence and we were able to find this cool dam in the middle of the Arno that we saw once on his show. We walked out into the middle of the river, hung out a while and wished we had thought to bring along a picnic lunch.
There was this amazing market right outside our hotel and we spent approximately 9000 hours walking up and down the aisles. Dave watched patiently for 8999 hours while I picked up and inspected every single bag, glove, briefcase, scarf and key chain. I was determined to find a new laptop case, but I was having a hard time estimating the size of my laptop. Finally, I found the perfect bag. And then another. And some scarves. Happy day.
There was a large indoor market too. We had a private tasting of balsamic vinegars from 8 to 25 years old. Luckily, it took a lot less than 9000 hours to figure out which we wanted. There's also a pretty good story in which Dave tried to muscle in on another group's private tasting with bad results which he, of course, mulled over for days, but that's best left for a verbal re-telling. We'll tell you the story at the slide show.
Speaking of balsamic, let me interject here another cool thing about food stores in Germany. Balsamic glaze. Yes, that's a cool thing. They have it everywhere. You know when you get one of those caprese salads and the vinegar is scattered around the plate in swirls and dots? And when you try to do that at home it just pools in the bottom under the tomatoes? That's where the magic of balsamic glaze comes in....it's thickened vinegar, so it stays where you put it. I bought four bottles to take home.
Ok, after that brief interlude, back to Italy....
We went back to a restaurant that we had gone to last summer and it was just as friendly and welcoming as I remembered. The host (maybe the owner?) was delighted to see himself in a picture we took last year, so we took more and he was just as goofy as he was then.
Saturday ended up being much colder. We still spent a lot of time walking, though. We tracked down another restaurant, a panini place, that still makes sandwiches to order. This is a dying trend in Florence, where all the sandwiches now arrive in delis pre-packaged and you just pick out the one you want. Dave was intimidated by the prospect of ordering a sandwich in Italian, so I took one for the team. The counter guy didn't seem too thrilled with my combination of eggplant, mortadella, cheese, tomatoes, and mustard (Really, you want that?), but he made it anyway and I think it was ok. I'm not big on sandwiches, but it wasn't the worst thing I've ever tasted. I just realized I might be the first person in history to refer to food, fresh food, from Italy, in Italy, as "not the worst thing I've ever tasted."
Sunday was terrible; rainy, cold and miserable. We were totally exhausted (and maybe a little hungover). We changed our flight to one that left a couple hours earlier, hopped a cab to the airport and waited there for three hours - long lines, weather delays, and a futile search for my lost iPhone. The lost/found actually told us that they don't handle lost objects, they turn them over to the police.
Us: Can we talk to the police?
L&F: They don't like it if we call them.
Us: Can we call them?
L&F: No, they'll be here in 20 minutes
Us: Our flight leaves in 10 minutes, can you write down their number or Lufthansa's lost and found info?
They finally gave us a form on which the information for Lufthansa's lost and found office was printed. This was also futile. This is how most things go in Italy. I think it's part of their charm.
For some reason, when we arrived in Frankfurt I had the insane idea that we would take a train home from the airport. This is a very do-able proposition, but maybe not such a great thought when we were soooooo tired. It took about an hour to get back to the apartment (but only cost 7 euros!) I can't even begin to describe how nice it was to sleep in my own bed away from my own bed (even with those crazy pillows). Heaven.
Looking back over our pictures, I still want to go back again. Maybe we'll rent one of those Tuscan country houses in a couple of years...:)
