Italy 2006-4.2

Ciao Firenze! It is funny, Florence is a cosmopolitan city, however there is a casualness that seems to feel right here. Perhaps tomorrow will be different. We found our hotel, after navigating the streets that were made for pedestrians, not both cars and pedestrians. This was a bit of a balancing act, as the "sidewalks" are occasionally less than a meter wide. The hotel is fine, but not nearly as pleasant as the Corte Grimani. The room is small and looks out over the exterior smoking court that is adjacent to the bar in the hotel. This makes privacy a bit of an issue but nothing that is unmanageable. The aforementioned bar could be quite pleasant one afternoon. In addition, colazione in camera (breakfast in your room) is available.

We strolled the old part of the city, seeing the Duomo, inside and out and had a brisk discussion about how the dome was constructed. Architecture geeks in love, there is nothing more exasperating but we are just fine with it. We managed to get across the Ponte Vecchio and then stopped for our caffe gelato fix. The facility in the gelato is in the basement, and required ducking under what looked like some of the original foundations, which made the trip kind of fun. In addition to caffe gelato being the caffeine of choice, Jene has observed that judging solely by the number of shops available, Italian women are partial to their saucy undies and their jewels. It stands to reason that one wears one in or order to obtain the other, thus resulting in the first being worn no longer, or something to that effect. For crying out loud, there was even a lingerie shop in the Venice train station! I love Italy…

We had dinner in the Restaurante Frescobaldi, just off the Piazza de Signoria. In a word, it was wonderful. The food was pure Tuscan, beef and pork simply prepared, in addition to crostini with chicken liver pate, bruschetta, and roasted potatoes. They also offered a great risotto with wine in the mix, and of course, we had a bottle of Chianti. The owners of the restaurant, the Frescobaldi family have their own vineyards, and serve primarly their own wines. This limitation is by no means a problem. The wine was great, and the service top notch. We were accidentally not charged for the wine, and when we pointed out the error, they were very appreciative, and treated us to the family’s premium grappa. Very, very good. What is amazing is that I can still type at the moment, but Italian wine seems to leave me buzzed but functional. Tomorrow will most likely be a museum day, as Florence is all about Michelangelo.