Day 4-8
Trip Start
May 07, 2008
1
2
19
Trip End
Jun 23, 2008
Florence,
Italy
Monday, May 19, 2008
Gnocchi w/ onions carrots spinach red sauce
. The view was amazing you could see the whole city and the surrounding country side, soon I will climb the bell tower of the Duomo so you get a birds eye view of the city from the center. From there we walked back down the hill we climbed to get to the path that took us to the Boboli gardens. We were on our way down when we saw a road that went back up the hill straight toward the gardens so we took it well turns out it was one street to soon but we found an old church built next to what is now a road, turns out it was an old roman aqueduct that was turned into a street we figured it out when we saw carvings in the side of the walls that looked like waters and a measurement system, then we found a sign that said aqueducts it was kind of cool. We turned back after Jerry realized that we had passed Fort Belvedere after looking at the map he had. We finally made it to the entrance of the gardens which is through the Palazzo Pitti The Gardens were beautiful you will just have to look at the hundred pictures of the place, and I could have filled the camera up in the gardens. We were disappointed at first we walked around the main area but couldn't find were the rest of the gardens were so Jerry sat down to read his book that he had to finish before the first day of class which is tomorrow (MON). I went of by my-self to try and find the other area which I did it was just as beautiful as the other part and bigger. Little side stories: as I was walking around by my-self and old Italian lady asked me where the café was I managed well enough to tell her "café? (then I pointed in the right direction, then said) I penso un café chiusi" which means I think the café is closed she smiled at me and said grazie, it made my day
Gnocchi w/ onions carrots spinach red sauce 2
. Then to make me feel even better about 30 minutes later I was through the gardens then headed back towards Jerry I walked out on to the main path behind to girls around my age I could hear them complaining about the walking but other than that I was lost. One of them turned around and saw me, and bumped her friend and they started looking at me and talking (they must of thought I didn't know Italian because) I heard one of them say "The man in the black shirt(yes I was the only one around in a black shirt) is very beautiful then they keep giggling and saying bellissimmo. I turned and said "buono sera" and the look on their faces was priceless they turned bright red. Jerry and I explored the new part of the gardens then headed home it was a long walk and we have only been her 3 days but we are already tired of tourist. For dinner I made gnocchi with tomato sauce with garlic, onions, carrots, and spinach, it was good.Day 5 (Mon) Today we woke up late again and had no time to stop at a café before the first day of class. Today I had art history, teacher is from Florida State, and I'll have his wife for my class tomorrow. We started class with the normal boring rules then we started with Michelangiolo's David and its importance for the Renaissance. We learned Florence was the center of the Renaissance. The best part about the class is that we get to go out and see the different things. He pointed out the remnants of old towers that used to dot the city and are now part of the newer buildings
2004 Chianti
. We got to see the first city hall of the new republic and the real house of Dante. There is a house that has been refinished and has signs all over it that saw Dante's house but it's just for tourists. Dante's real house is down the street and across the street from the first city hall. Next stop for our class was the Palazzo Vecchio, the town hall they build from 1299 to 1320. It took a long time because they had to redo which side they wanted to be the front because it didn't look good from the street so they knocked down houses on another side to build a new front. The class is going to be fun our teacher really knows a lot about this stuff, oh and we get into museums without standing in line and for free. For lunch I went to the place I got lunch the first day, the guy recognized me, and I ordered in Italian. Ti, Dhrumil (my other two roommates) and waited for Jerry to get out of class. Some girls wanted to walk back with us for dinner and wine. I cooked angel hair pasta with asparagus onions tomatoes and garlic in a white wine sauce. They loved it, I guess I'm the chef everyone wants me to come over and cook. We drank wine and talked until 11 when our apt. has to be quiet.Day 6 (Tue) We finally woke up on time, Ti and I stopped at the closest café to our house I can't remember the name right now but I'll remember it after I go again. I had Italian life and culture today, not as jam packed with cool facts but a very nice class. For one of the projects we have to cook a classical Italian dish for the class in small groups that should be fun
Vino Frizzante
. After class we were going to go to the Duomo but it was over cast so we decided to climb the bell tower another day. We had our welcome dinner in a Osteria (just a traditional restaurant). Our waiter was very nice and a certified wine expert. Ti and I asked him many questions about wine and how and what to drink, he helped us select a wine line up for the night. For the wine we started with a light white wine Pachar from Northern Toscana, then we moved to a soft red wine from the same region grape as the white so it is a brother wine Cedro (Chianti Bufina), then the last wine was a fuller wine from the Southern Toscana. The wine was very good with the food. We had a 15 course meal it was amazing, I won't go into all of them but I'll mention some of the highlights. Stemmed tomatoes with seasoned bread crumbs, zucchini in a balsamic sauce, olive and anchovy spread on crusty bread, bread salad, bruschetta, a mild cheese with honey and pine nuts, gnocchi with a mozzarella sauce, bowtie pasta with pesto and asparagus, for dessert we had panacotta with blueberry syrup. I apologize for any that has cooked for me before but that was the best meal I have every had in my life. Lorenzo the director at CAPA come over and should us even more wine tasting tips. He told us that we should keep a journal about the wine and make a game out of it. After dinner the girls wanted to go to the bars we went along but didn't drink, we just hung out with them. Well, I had a little, I must have been looking good it was the first time that a girl has every bought me a drink (excluding my girlfriend)
Cantina
. I don't think a single girl paid for her drink all night. After the first bar we were walking down the street and there was a group of people outside of a bar the girls stopped and started talking the best they could with the boys, they love the attention because they don't get that much in the states. Any ways they introduce me to Sareffo and Liapold. They don't speak the greatest of English so I talked in broken italiano to them they thought that was great so they showed us a good bar and stood outside for 2 hours just talking and I got to converse in broken Italian and they talked in broken English, and I translated between some of the girls and our new friends. I had a blast it was so much fun hanging out and speaking italiano. We walked the girls home to be nice then I went to bed.Day 7 (Wed) Just woke up and got a shower, for class today we get to meet at the St. Croce Cathedral and I'm going to stop in to our new café stop and get a cappuccino. We ran into Luigi on the way to class today (he is the owner of the local wine shop owner) we talked to him for about 5 minutes. Today for art history we looked fresca paintings in two churches. We went into San Croce a huge church from the 1300's I think. The inside was beautiful Michelangelo is buried under the church along with 5 other well know Italian heroes and also other local historical figures. I was busy taking notes so I didn't get to take any pictures but we will go back to take pics. Just walking into the church was an amazing feeling
My sandwich
. The next church Santa Maria del Carmine burnt down in the late 1700's all but one chapel area was lost the Brancacci family's chapel paying tribute to St. Peter, and the famous The Tribute Money. The colors were beautiful and the stories that all the paintings in both churches told were great. We walked back to the CAPA building to wait for Jerry to get out of his class on the way I got a panino from my favorite gastronomie, Pizzaccheria. While waiting for Jerry I saw that the Pens are up 3-0 over PHI in the series. On the way back from class we stopped at the grocery store we got a bunch of fresh produce for dinner and saw a bunch of fresh seafood that looked good they had; shark, a bunch of fish, squid, and octopus. Ti and I plan on trying most of the fish. The food is very inexpensive we bought a lot and it was only 29 euros. For dinner we had penne with zucchini, onions, tomatoes, peppers, and ground beef in a tomato sauce. We made a deal as an apt. Jerry and I cook and Dru and Ti clean the kitchen. Ti and I finally got on the board in our trip long euchre extravaganza after back to back wins for team crouching Ti hidden Evan, the series is at 5-2. I'm going to work out with my limited equipment tonight. The girls stopped by from up the road so I guess I'll have to work out tomorrow.Day 8 (TH) Last day of class for the week. Class was kinda boring today a lot of lecture and I had already read the material. After class we went to see the British institute library, very old, but boring. My roommates and I came home and Ti and I grabbed our refill able wine bottles from the local place around the corner. We went and hung out with Luigi (the owner of the wine shop) he told us some stories of Dante and the Medici, and gave us a lesson on wine and gave us a good deal on a dessert wine that is amazing and he gave us some lemon biscotti. For dinner I made angel hair pasta with tomatoes, zucchini, onions, garlic, garlic bread crumbs, and then we made a cream sauce with a hard smoked cheese of Toscana it was amazing. Not a very eventful day because we have to wake up at 5:30 tomorrow in order to get to the bus station in time to leave on our excursion. We have to walk an hour plus to get to the station.
