Day 1:
The eagle has officially landed….in food heaven. Granted, it wasn't easy getting here. First, we arrived at the train station and realized that we forgot to get directions from the station to our hostel. Second, we forgot the name of our hostel. If there was a third, it probably would have meant game over for us. The first attempt to salvage things involved walking in to a nice hotel (fully bearded) and asking them if we could use the internet for 5 minutes to pull up our hostel's information on our email accounts. Surprisingly, this went about as well as our Venetian dinner the night before. Not only did they say no, the lady working the desk looked like she was about to call security, as Osama Bin Laden's younger nephew and his American looking bearded friend had just entered the premises. She did, however, direct us to an internet point inside the subway entrance outside the door of the hotel, desperately trying to get us to leave as quickly as possible. Three Euro's later, we had our hostel information and a print out of how to get there. Eight blocks and five flights of stairs later, we were checked in and ready to explore Florence in all it's glory. Forty-five minutes later, it was dark and we realized everything except the restaurants were closed. We pondered our next move for approximately 1 minute and 12 seconds before being forced into sitting down at a restaurant and eating what could have been one of the best meals on the trip (if you push me in a corner dammit, I'll eat my way out if I have to).
My favorite part about Florence so far? The meal layout. First, you start with wine (very important). Next, you order an appetizer, which in this case was an antipasto platter topped with arugula. To say that it was tasty and delicious would be a severe understatement. Next, is what the locals call "primi piatti," which is typically either a pasta dish, rice dish, or soup. Joe ordered the black truffle tagliatelle, which was nothing short of absolutely phenomenal (if this trip was Sportscenter, it would be a top play nominee for sure). I ordered the Tagliatelle Speidino di Mare (italian for pasta with shrimp, scallops, mussels, clams, and squid). After being mildly scolded by the chef for asking for the parmesan cheese, this pasta shook me to the core (interestingly enough, there are only certain pasta dishes in which it is appropriate to top with parmesan. The chef explained that both mine and Joe's pasta was not to be topped with cheese, as it would ruin the taste of the truffle/seafood. Only pastas that contain some sort of tomatoes are to be topped with cheese, and even then, the topping is to be light). This, once again, was an automatic top play nominee. The next course that is served is the second piatti, which is your meat dish (aside: I consider myself a fairly hefty man, and let me say that if you have made it this far in an Italian meal and you're not moderately full yet, you should consider leaving whatever profession you're currently in and switch to competitive eating). Joe went with a roman chicken breast with tomatoes, while I went with the Bisteca Fiorentina, which was supposed to be a specialty of the house. Both were extremely good, most especially the Bisteca, which came out rare and was possibly the most flavorful steak I can remember eating.
Monday nights on this trip are not much for clubbing or drinking, however the wear and tear of constant traveling has officially set in. Day 1 is officially wrapped at 9:30pm.
Day 2:
After the first set alarm of the entire trip (7:30am, we deserve pats on the back), we were determined to see all that Florence had to offer….after a preliminary cappuccino and snack (chicken panini for me, waffle with nutella for Joe). Somehow we were able to cover the Duomo, San Lorenzo, Santa Croce, Santa Maria Novella, Accademia (David), Palazzo Medici, and Piazza Signoria in all of about 7 hours. Whew. Here's the cliffnotes version:
Duomo- The outside structure is one of the most incredible things you will ever see. The inside….ehh. We did, however, climb the doom bellower (460 steps) and get what was probably the best view of the entire trip, along with some of the best pictures (can anyone imagine a plank over 500 meters in the air?).
San Lorenzo: Exactly the opposite of the Duomo. Outside is pretty simple, inside is unbelievably ornate.
Santa Croce: Outside is fairly ridiculous, inside is absolutely ridiculous. Machiavelli, Michelangelo, Galileo, and Dante all have tombs (and are buried) inside the church.
Santa Maria Novella: I honestly don't remember…..it must not have made a huge impression.
Palazzo Medici: It's a palace. It's huge. Any questions?
Piazza Signoria: This was a giant square in the middle of the city, and was actually pretty cool. There is a giant stage in the middle of the square filled with at least seven giant human nudist sculptures (Renaissance), including a statue of David Replica.
Accademia: The museum was filled with paintings (we met our painting quote early in the trip per El Museo del Prado), however it does house the real statue of David. It's pretty incredible. The statue itself it probably almost 20 feet tall, if not more.
In between all of this, grown men have to eat. We prudently google'd the pizzeria where the cast of "Jersey Shore" worked, and had lunch there. Surprisingly enough, MTV picked a pretty legitimate spot for the cast to work, because the pizza was by far the best we've had all trip. We decided to pick two and split them, so that we could get as much variety as possible. We picked a pizza topped with pomodoro sauce (pizza sauce), mozzarella, hot salami, prosciutto, and sausage; alongside a pizza with pesto sauce, mozzarella and Roma tomatoes. Both were out of bounds. We also hit what was supposed to be the best gelato spot in town shortly thereafter (as our book described, "this is the type of gelato you will remember 50 years from now). No exaggeration. I honestly feel like no rhetorical description could ever do this gelato justice….it was transcendent.
After a brief siesta, we searched for a new dinner spot. After checking trip advisor, we found a place that was small, off the beaten track, and relatively cost effective. We walked about 20 minutes and found it completely empty with the door propped wide open, about an hour from closing time. The chef, standing behind the bar, took a long look at us, and about 15 long seconds later, told us they were closed. If there is a negative we have found in Florence, it would be this: immediately judged by a local, most likely due to our beards and running shoes, and scoffed at. Despite the insult, we remembered a small restaurant we found on our first day, and walked back to it. It was a small restaurant, still off the beaten path, and luckily was still low priced. We opened with a stuffed calamari appetizer, not knowing what it was stuffed with or how it would come. Turns out it was A.) Not fried, B.) Stuffed with crab meat, C.) covered with house pomodoro sauce, and D.) Officially in our top ten food items for the trip. Next, the chef decided to grace us with a pressed ciabatta prosciutto and cheese appetizer, which was also in the category of "phenomenal finger food." For Primi Piatti, we both went with the gnocchi covered in pomodoro and mozzarella, which was delicious. Second dish was italian sausage and veal scallopini, both of which were also tasty.
I think it's safe to say that Florence is a far departure from Venice in terms of landscape, food, people, and not sucking. I've always heard the expression "the Tuscan sun" used frequently with almost a cleansing connotation. I don't know about that, but I can tell you that the Tuscan sun turns out some outrageously good food.
Day 3:
Day 3 was very much a chill day. We slept in, got cappuccino, walked to the Palazzo Pitti (officially the only site in Florence we had not seen yet), ate lunch, took a nap, and ate dinner. Food-wise, lunch was pizza and dinner was pasta. Pretty standard Florentine fare. The most time we spent doing anything was probably sitting in the shaded area under the Palazzo, which was a gathering spot for students, travelers, and locals to relax. It was here that we reflected back on the trip for the first time, and came up with a list of "Eurotrip Superlatives." They are as such:
Largest International Population: Asians (they……are…….everywhere)
Ethnicity with the funniest picture poses: Asians (we saw a group all doing mickey mouse ears for a picture with their hands….enough said)
Country least knowledgable about the damaging effects of smoking: Spain (you can't walk a block without catching emphysema)
Country most knowledgable about the damaging effects of smoking: Switzerland
Country with the most attractive females: Spain
Country with the least attractive females: Czech Republic
Country with the nicest people: Switzerland
Country with the most assholes: Every country except Switzerland (Americans are scoffed at worldwide)
Country with the sexiest language: Italy
Country whose language sounds like European trash: Czech Republic (imagine listening to a Russian guy who's really, really drunk)
Country most resembling heaven: Switzerland (If there's skiing in heaven, it's probably going to look a lot like Switzerland)
Country (or city) most resembling hell: Venice (water is everywhere, you never know where you are, you have no idea how to get home, ever)
Country with the best food: Italy/Spain (this is a complete toss up…..the debate will live on forever)
Country with the worst food: Czech Republic (we ate a lot of Kebab)
City I would revisit first: Munich (beer halls are where it's at)
City I will never go back to: Venice (fool me once, shame on me…..fool me twice, Venice sucks and I should've talked Joe into cutting it off the list)
Going in to this trip, Florence was the spot I was most looking forward to hitting. The way the city is able to straddle the cultural line between contemporary and traditional is something I am unable to explain, it has to be experienced to be understood.
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