Friday morning we got up early and went into the city with NK. She headed off to work for an half day and we set out for breakfast followed by the Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens. NK recommended a cafe for coffee and pastries just past the palace. We felt like natives as we stood at the bar, shared three pastries and a cappuccino each. One had ricotta and pinoli nuts, another chocolate and the last a fresh soft brioche.
The one bummer we've felt as tourists is the pricing structure at the museums here. Some of the best museums in NYC are free or simply have a suggested donation so everyone can take advantage of them. Here they are quite expensive and frequently there will be one price, but wait...there is a special exhibit, so it's twice as expensive, and it's not optional. The Pitti Palace had two separate tickets -- one at 12 euro got you into some parts of the palace, but not the garden, and another at 10 euro for the gardens and a small selection of rooms in the palace. Essentially you have to buy both, so 22 euro each (about $30), if you want to see everything, and yes, lucky us, this included a special exhibit we never saw. We opted for the second ticket and made our way through the costume exhibit, ROS exhibit (mostly wine related), busts...then headed to the gardens which were almost four times the footprint of the palace itself. We were totally exhausted and joked we needed a vacation from our vacation! We picked a stone bench to rest and didn't move for almost an hour listening to a fountain bubbling. I left Nate on the bench to explore a bit more of the garden and came across a cypress tree alley that was stunning.
From here we headed back to our meeting spot and met NK at 1:30 for lunch. She took us to one of her favorite local spots owned by two sisters. I had a crepe with mascapone, prosciutto and spinach, Nate had a risotto with tomatoes and leeks, and NK had a salad. They baked all their own desserts here so we shared a delicious dessert which was sort of like a shortcake with chocolate and Sicilian pears...so good!
After lunch we headed to the Uffizi Gallery. The running theme was clear...Mary and Jesus (in baby and adult format) over and over. In the Medieval art this was all depicted in one dimensional paintings. Starting to master the concept of foreground, middle ground, background, was Giotto. His signature seemed to be his almond shaped eyes. The hilarious thing was seeing all the different versions of baby Jesus looking like little old men, because adults posed for these paintings, not babies! Among the other highlights were a number of Botticelli, da Vinci and Titian paintings. The most famous (for a reason) were Botticelli's "Birth of Venus" and da Vinci's "Annunciation." The use of light in the da Vinci was surreal - you could see through sheer fabric in front of Mary...simply stunning.
Then we jumped back on the train and bus to the apartment, relaxed a bit and headed back out for dinner. MP had made a reservation at Trattoria I' Brindellone. We deferred to them about what we should try - what was in season, what was a typical dish of the area. We started with a mix of crostini, some with fresh tomato, some with warm chicken liver paté. Then we had something that was specific to Florence - coccoli, which was a fried dough ball, that was heavenly, served with fresh prosciutto just sliced and stracchino, which is a soft cheese. I had robollita, which was a regional poverty dish. Basically a stew made of stale bread and whatever vegetables you had in the garden. Everyone else had pasta with fresh truffle shavings as truffles are in season. Nate was SO happy! For dessert NK and I shared a molten chocolate cake and the boys had cookies, again specific to Tuscany, that were like mini biscotti with almonds. They were just a little hard, but a great texture, and they were served with a dessert wine you dipped them in to soften them up. So delicious I almost wish I'd gotten my own. Sadly, we forgot our camera for this meal, so you'll have to use your imagination.
Full to the brim, we skipped coffee and headed home for a good nights rest with plans to sleep in the next morning.
-LT
Location:Florence, Italy
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