tonybreed: a blog

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Florence Day 3

We got up early (though not quite as early as we might have hoped) to be able to go to Uffizi. Even arriving early on a Wednesday in October, we waited close to 2 hours in line. The line was not long, just slow, so let that be a lesson to you: just get yourself a goddamn reservation. (Reservations were available for the next day, which I understand is not true in the summer. If we could have come back the next day, we would have.) The Uffizi is not particularly well-managed for its guests, apparently. Plus, it's such a project to get in that you can't just make a one hour visit and come back another time; it's all or nothing. (At the Louvre you can go for free for last hour of the day, which is a nice way to visit the museum if you are in Paris for a while.)

We did enjoy the Uffizi, in that overwhelming museum way. There's a lot of really beautiful stuff there.

We had been noticing around town some tour groups where everyone was wearing headsets, and the tour guides spoke into little microphones. We saw a lot of this at the Uffizi; I think it must be a rule in Florence, because I've never seen that anywhere else. It was nice, though, because it made the tour groups less obtrusive (noise-wise) — sometimes you didn't even that someone was talking till you saw their lips moving.

It was lunch time by the time we left, and we were hungry. To avoid yesterdays mad wanderings, we went straight to a place from our guidebook: the Trattoria Benvenuto. It was very good. I had carpaccio Benvenuto (the house style, which was in fact the normal style: arugula, lemon, olive oil, parmesan), followed by tortellini in brodo, which was not exquisite but very yummy. Eric had a menu, which started with taglietelle in a meat sauce, and followed with arista di maiale, a big hunk of pork with a little stuffing of garlic and rosemary, plus a mixed salad; it was also very good. Then we had coffee.

Then we went for gelato at another recommended place, called something like “festivale del gelato”. It was not as good as yesterday. This place didn't offer fiordilatte, so instead I had something called macedonia (which apparently means fruit salad) to accompany my strawberry. I had it in a giant cone for some unknown reason, which was too much. The macedonia was quite good, but the strawberry was lackluster — it was nicely not-to-sweet, but it also lacked flavor. Eric had his usual tiramisu and chocolate. The chocolate was comparable to yesterday's, but the tiramisu was not nearly as good.

After a bit of wandering, we went to the Accademia, home of Michelangelo's David. The line was a little shorter than yesterday, and we were inside in 17 minutes. The David is very impressive... each square inch is so lovingly rendered, there's so much to take in. You can stop a take in all the details of each part: calves, ankles, veins on the back of the hands. We walked very slowly, counterclockwise, around the statue. For the most part, people just stand and stare. There are other parts to the museum, and we looked at those too, but everyone knows what the main event is.

I had an urge to take a photo of David's right hand from a particular angle, but I know photographs are generally discouraged in museums. I looked around, and it seemed everyone had cameras out, and no one was saying anything. Furthermore, there were no "no-cameras" signs out, as there so often are. So I decided to go ahead and take a couple of discreet shots, with the flash turned off as usual. No problems, till I walked back to Eric and realized I'd had the camera in low-res mode (suitable for viewing on a computer, but not for printing). So I set it to hi res, went back, and took the same shot a couple more times. As the shutter clicked a second time, I heard a guard call out "Signore!" No photos allowed, apparently. Oh well. Guess I was lucky, I did get to take my photos. And for what it's worth, I was discreet and considerate.

So we left, deciding we were done with museums, probably for the rest of the trip. Well, maybe we'd go to Dante's house, we though... but by the time we got there (after much wandering, and a stop for coffee), it was closed. Oh well. We bought postcards and headed back to the hotel to change for dinner, instead.

We stopped for drinks again at the Piazza della Signoria. This time Eric had a Campari and soda, while I had the house aperitivo, which turned out to be Campari and grapefruit juice, and was remarkly tasty.

We headed across the river to Trattoria 4 Leoni for dinner. This is the place we'd reserved at yesterday, when we'd tried to eat there and found them full. IT was a very good choice: possibly our best meal on the trip. To start, we shared verdure grigliate con caprino (grilled eggplant, zucchini, and peppers with a youngish goat cheese). Lovely. Then I had risotto di gorgonzola e radicchio, which was excellent, though I couldn't find any radicchio), while Eric had fiochetti di pera al taleggio con asperagi, a truly magnificent dish of pasta stuffed with pear, served in a sauce of taleggio cheese and asparagus. Then, since we were in Florence and wanted to have local specialties, we shared a 1.2 kg (=vast) bistecca alla fiorentina. Bistecca alla fiorentina is a large thick slice of meat (a particular cut which includes, I think, a rib) that is cooked quickly on high heat, so the outside is nicely browned and caramelized, while the center is virtually raw. To do it right, the meat must be at least a certain thickness, which is why we'd gotten a piece so big — our waitress had told us that was the smallest we could get. It was delicious. The only weak note of the meal was the spinach we got to accompany it, which was overcooked and lackluster.

We ordered a really lovely Brunello di Montalcino from 2001 to have with the meal (called something like “Podere Poggioia”). Its complex bouqet had notes of violet, prune, juniper, licorice/fennel, butter, lavender, and pignoli, with egg white underneath. Tasting it, we found prune, juniper, and licorice/fennel.

After our giant bistecca we didn't really want dessert, but we decided to share cookies and vinsanto, which we followed with our now-customary coffee.

I feel that I should say something about the people at the table next to us, an odd collection of businessmen and what seemed like trophy wives (mostly American), but really there's no story there. Their conversation was stupid, and unfortunately we could understand it. The waitress took to turning and rolling her eyes at us each time she left their table. (It reminded me of how Eric and I always used to have these experiences with waitstaff, where they'd treat us more as friends than as customers.) In any event, we did not dwell on them over dinner; we had a grand old time at our little table in the corner.

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posted by Tony at 11:58 PM

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Rather than reading my blog, which is boring and never gets updated anymore, may I suggest you read my comic, which is at hitchedcomic.com

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