Firenze was pretty and delicious.

Another week flew by while each day crawled. It is really astounding how that works like that. Nothing special this week except that I found out that the hours of one of classes changed about two weeks ago and I haven’t been able to find it for this reason. Now it starts at 9 and ends at 11. I’ve been going at 11.

This weekend, as is normally the case, was where the excitement could be found. As I hinted at in my last post, Annie, Danielle, Angela and I decided to go have an art and food appreciation weekend in Florence. It was a good choice.

We left Friday morning, at noon for Pesaro. We thought we’d missed the Rapid bus but it was just full and another one came soon afterwards. We got to Pesaro, took the train to Faenza, which I am convinced was named as such to confuse people into taking vacations there, thinking they were going to Florence. “Oh Betty, let me tell you! I booked my vacation this weekend. I am going to Florence! But they call it something different over there I think.” (To be read in Carolina accent). From Faenza, there is a train to Firenze. We had arrived in Florence by 4:00. We got to our hostel soon thereafter. The hostel called PLUS (People Like US) was pretty much a teenager’s resort colony. There was a pool and a bar and a restaurant. It was very lovely. Everything was done with loadable prepaid cards so you could charge your food with your room key. It was really quite a contrast from the Hostel in Venice, where, when we walked in, the only person there, in what looked to be his apartment, greeted me by saying, “David?” and my key was a skeleton key and behind my bed was a shelf that was clearly a door into the next room with a key hole where I could see into the adjacent room.

We had decided to make this trip about art and food so first thing; we had to find dinner. There was a Mexican restaurant suggested by the Hostel. Danielle has not been home in six months and hasn’t had Mexican food in this much time. Angela and I have been here just over a month and I’m already missing it. Annie is Irish so I don’t think Mexican is so commonplace but she was certainly keen on the idea. How better to feed ourselves than with a bit of nostalgia? We headed in the direction of the restaurant and at one point stumbled upon the Basilica. It was jaw dropping in the night; absolutely huge and incredibly ornate. The restaurant was wonderful, surprisingly enough. I haven’t had food that is so spicy it made my sweat since I’ve been here. That night was fun. We went back to the room, which was on the 1st (2nd) floor, called PLUS Girls! and painted in bubble gum pink.

The next morning we were all slow to rise. We made our way to the restaurant inside the hostel to have an all you can eat buffet English breakfast. Decent. We all felt that paying €5 meant that we were obligated to stuff ourselves. Greasy bacon and eggs sat like a rock for several hours to come. We made our way to the Uffizi Gallery afterwards. The line was incredibly long. We waited, without moving, for about two hours. The wait was worth it. The Uffizi houses some of the most famous paintings on Earth. It was nice to have Annie, who has studied art history, there to explain why each painting was important. From 1400 to 1600, people got so much better at art. It’s really incredible. It was also nice, in terms of comparing styles that it seems that every artist throughout history has done a painting of the baby Jesus being held by Mary. In the beginning, everything was flat and the baby looked like a little man. Later on, people decided to look at what they were drawing and they added dimensions like a big head and perspective. I understand why famous art is famous now. “The Birth of Venus,” for example, is incredible. I think the €6,50 entrance fee for the Uffizi was well worth it.

After the Uffizi, we made a brief stop at H&M (“Hache and Em” to Annie) for the girls. I am a great fake boyfriend. We spent a bit too much time there though and missed the hours of the Basilica. We put it on the list for the next day and made our way back to the hostel. However, on the way there we noticed that, because of the rain (oh yeah, it was raining now), the line at the Academia gallery was pretty short. We were going to do it the next day, but we had time. After about 15 minute and another €6,50 and we were in. After walking in, we turned the corner. Suddenly, all the other art in the gallery was obsolete. Michelangelo’s “David” loomed 16 feet tall in front of us. I cannot describe how incredible it is. You can’t even look at pictures of it. It is perfect. We sat and stared at it for probably 20 minutes if not more. Just “The David” alone was worth the price of admission.

After we all were able to take pull eyes away, we went back to the room and everyone feel asleep for a bit. After I rallied the troops, we decided to try another recommended restaurant. It was already 8:00 so we’d be eating late. After a challenging search (props to Danielle for being the navigator all weekend), we arrived in a small rustic restaurant. After a short wait, we were seated in the basement. I liked the place immediately. There was a TV in each dinning room with a camera of the kitchen. We drank the house wine, which was wonderful and I finally ordered a primo and secondo instead of being cheap and just getting a pasta dish. I had cannelloni filled with funghi and mascarpone as a primo and then a grilled veal steak for secondo. It was well worth the money. We split the dessert tasting menu. We left full and happy and we wrote an improvised song called “Puffy Shiny Jacket” on the way home, mocking the popular Italian fashion of dressing like the Michelin man. Having started dinner at around 10:00, combined with the time change, which happened at midnight on Sunday, we didn’t get to bed until about 3:00 in the morning.

The next morning we awoke to a torrential downpour. We gathered our things and checked out and left our bags in the baggage room. Our first mission was to get an American breakfast at an American style dinner near the restaurant from the night before. This time it was easier to find, but much wetter on account of the rain. I had a breakfast sandwich of fried eggs, cheddar cheese and bacon with a big cup of drip coffee. I think I still don’t miss drip coffee, but it was nice for a change. After another heavy breakfast, we went to the Synagogue. It was really an impressive place, intricately painted from floor to ceiling with designs and stars of David. It was nice to see some religious diversity since everything is pretty Catholic here. After the synagogue, which was my first experience wearing a Yarmulke, we headed for the Basilica. We were at the front of the line when it opened. It is possible to go up on top of the Duomo, but we thought it was a bit too rainy to be worth the €6,50. The building is far more impressive from the outside than from within. The inside of the Duomo is painted beautifully but it’s difficult to see. After the Duomo, which we heard referred to as the “Dummo” by a map-holding American, we made another stop by “Hache” & M. I looked at the men’s section for about 20 seconds, but it made me uncomfortable so I went to the leather good’s market to look for a bag. They are all very, very expensive so I just perused all of the great smelling leather things. I tried on a jacket that was made by God especially for me, but at €180 and with spring weather approaching, I thought it wouldn’t make sense. It was so nice though. Oh well.

After H&M, I broke my umbrella by trying to look cool and swing it open, so I bought another, better one and we headed for the hostel to get our bags and to the train station. To make the end of the story more concise, we got home by 8:45 give or take a few minutes.

Florence was incredible. Once again, we heard more American English than Italian, but Florence retains its soul, which I feel, Venice has lost to consumerism. I feel like I did a lot but I know there is always more. I want to go back but if I can’t, I won’t feel bad because I got to eat and see art and that’s what I’d want to do anyway. I would say it was my favorite city in Italy so far.

In the coming weeks, look for my story about going to Rome and Ischia with my parents and about going to Greece with Danielle and Angela. I just got an email from Jan today and he wants to meet up too and I will most likely go to Norway and see Lizita. Many more voyages to come.

More as stories develop!

All the best,
David