I don't think I mentioned that it rained, off and on, for the entire nine days, did I? Welp, it did, though that didn't detract from my enjoyment.
Anywho, after four days of braving the Roman traffic and personally seeing sights that I'd learned about in school, on the morning of March 26, we hopped on a train to Florence. About 90 minutes later, we arrived and my never-ending love for that beautiful little city began. Highlights:
Day 1:
- 'Twas rainy when we arrived. This would come to be the case for 98% of the rest of our trip. Whatevs, though.
- Settled into the hotel, named Sole, which was literally a five-minute walk from the Santa Maria Novella train station, 8 minutes from the Duomo, and 12 from the place in which Michelangelo's David is housed. It was simple and clean. Amazing, helpful staff. The room was a little nippy, but a few extra blankets helped that. The internet could have been better, but I've also lived with worse. Overall, I gave it four stars. Oh, and it's pretty affordable!
- Walked around a little. I had a delicious pastry called the pane del pescatore from Cucciolo Bar/Pastry Shop. It's like lemon-flavored raisin bread.
Pane del Pescatare
Pane del Pescatare - Went to the Duomo. It costs to go in and walk up the 400+ steps, which I didn't want to do, so I just snapped photos of the outside.
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| Duomo in Florence |
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| Duomo in Florence |
- Near the Duomo, I had gelato. I was craving it since I hadn't had any during our last night in Rome (that's how bad the obsession was after only four days). It wasn't gelato at all. Just your basic ice cream. #bummer
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| Crappy faux gelato |
- I finally, finally, finally had my first taste of legitimate Italian cannoli. It was superb. Obviously, it wasn't Sicilian (all the more reason for me to go back to Italy), but it was absolutely divine. The ricotta wasn't too sweet or bitter, the shell was just crunchy enough without being over-cooked. Great start to my cannoli love affair.
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| Ahhhh, that first delicious taste of cannoli. 'Twas wonderful. Ignore the tacky candies |
- Dinner: spaghetti with oil, hot chili peppers, garlic, and basil. The Italians love their basil and spice, both of which I appreciate. It was phenomenal and filling. Spicy without being tear-inducing. Garlicky without being cloyingly so.
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| Sometimes, simplicity is better |
- Dessert: gelato, of course. Flavors: fior di latte (sweet cream) and walnut. The former was fine, nothing to wax nostalgic about. The latter made me feel as though I was eating walnuts.
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| Real gelato, though not among my favorites thus far |
Day 2:
- Breakfast: cannoli. Yeah, I became that tourist who just started eating desserts for breakfast, but why not? The cannoli came from the Alinari Cafe near the Santa Maria Novella train station. The one from Day 1 couldn't compare. The shell was, again, perfectly crunchy without being too well-done. The ricotta was slightly sweeter, but still not too much. Like most cannoli, it had the tacky candy at each end, but I just took it off. I don't understand why they must be decorated in such a manner. Something so phenomenal shouldn't be degraded in such a manner.
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| Hands down, best cannoli of my trip! Again, ignore the tacky candies. |
- Adventures in Pisa!
- The tower really leans!
It leans - It's only an hour away from Florence by train
- From the Pisa train station, it takes 15 minutes by bus to get to the tower.
- The bus driver ever so kindly screeched an announcement that we'd arrived at pretty much the only sight anyone cares about.
- There was a light rain. Guess who opted to leave her umbrella at the hotel?
- I didn't go inside and walk up the 300 stairs to the top because I didn't want to...except I kinda did :/ Alas, hindsight is 20/20
- The view is gorgeous
- There's a lawn of perfectly manicured green grass that no one is supposed to walk on...except everyone (including yours truly) does. Life on the wild side...
- I tried to take an iconic jumping photo and failed miserably I should've kept going until I got that perfect one, but, again, hindsight...
Excerpts from my failed jumping photo
attempts.
And again.
And again! Really, though, how many times can I really
fail at taking the jumping photo?!? - I was only half-enthusiastic about taking the photo in which I tried to straighten the tower because the 50 million other tourists there were doing the same thing. Like, my gawd, a little creativity, please?
- An hour later, on a train back to Florence.
- Finally, we saw the David! This was another "no photo!" screaming session, very reminiscent of the Sistine Chapel (maybe the people employed to do this are related?) Of course, though, I got mine ;) What can I really say about ole Davie that hasn't been said? It's a phenomenal work of art. The features are so perfectly chiseled that it makes you wish for a guy who has that type of body. There is more to see in the museum than just Dave, though. The music room is wonderful. For any music aficionado, there's a Stradivarius violin there.
Oh, Davie Boy - After the David, I went to a place called Pugi Pizza that I read had delicious and cheap food. It wasn't as amazing as I read. I had a really good and interesting pizza with tomatoes and some type of green veggie, but it still wasn't what I was expecting. Not the best pizza I had in Italy. That still belonged to the first restaurant I went to in Rome.
Interesting, but not life-changing - Last dessert in Florence (dinner is nothing memorable): the best gelato and tiramisu I'd had in Italy until that time. From the same place where I got the walnut and fior di latter, I returned and first had tiramisu. It was creamy, caffeine-filled, and delectable without killing my palate. Smooth without tasting like mousse. Best tiramisu I had. Afterward, I had tiramisu and strachiatella gelato. Hands down, the best I'd had in Italy. I didn't think anything would top our gelateria in Rome, but this did. The only thing I can say is that it was perfect.
The beauty that was my tiramisu
Best. Gelato. Of. My. Trip. Half strachiatella, half tiramisu
The Morning We Left for Venice:
- I walked to the Arno River, which was about 6 minutes from the hotel. I'm slightly obsessed with the river because, in 1966, it flooded and washed out a good deal of Florence. At that time, a lot of their precious documents were housed and preserved underground, so they were lost in the flood, but volunteers who were dubbed "mud angels" came to help salvage whatever was still in tact and rebuild the city. I absolutely had to see the river that was powerful enough to cause such damage. It was beautiful and deceptively peaceful. One of my favorite memories from the trip.
The deceptively calm Arno River - I went back to Alinari Cafe (best cannoli in town) and, for brunch, purchased this little sandwich-roll called the rustico alinari. It was similar to a crescent roll with ham, cheese, egg, and a little pepper rolled together and baked. I'm not a big fan of the meat-dairy combo, but this was among the best foods I had in Italy. It actually might be my favorite thing. The pepper added a kick of spice, the ham was salty enough to balance it out, the egg was just plain good, and I only got a hint of the cheese, which I liked. It was so good that, 20 minutes before we boarded the train to Venice, I ran back to the cafe to purchase another one. It was worth it!
The rustico alinari. #divine
Conclusions:
- Always do what you want. Who knows when second chances will come around.
- I'm apparently not destined to take the perfect jumping photo.
- If you have a feeling that it will rain, always take an umbrella.
- If you have a feeling you'll need gloves (which I did), take them.
- Italy is really turning me on to Italian cuisine. I can do without the 50 million types of pasta smothered in 50 million cream sauces, but give me a good pizza, some pasta with a good tomato sauce or some oil and add a little basil and some other spices, or the fantabulous desserts and I'll be a happy camper for life.
- Florence was the Italy of my dreams. My first night there, there was a man playing nostalgic, romantic music on an accordion in one of the squares. There are motorcycles zooming down narrow streets. Gelato, tiramisu, and cannoli on every corner. Green countrysides and cute little houses. It was everything I imagined and so much more.
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