Florence, Day 2

Awoke this morning feeing absolutely exhausted… same for Claudia. We went down for breakfast and happily found eggs, a form of ham or bacon (not sure but it was delicious), fresh fruit, bread, cheese, yogurts and the like. We happily ate the eggs and bacon on bread with cheese, and a cappuccino later we were back in our room. I went back to sleep for about an hour and a half as I was feeling pretty exhausted… and that was all I needed. I awoke feeling good and quickly got ready for the day.

We took it slow today and ventured off on the shuttle the hotel provided. We were dropped off by the termini or train station, and headed off on foot. We saw a tea room and café across the street and it looked inviting. We saw tiny pastries in the window and they served Illy coffee so we were instantly sold. We ordered cappuccinos and a selection of tiny bite sized pastries… all were excellent! Our favorite was a bite sized fruit tart, not too sweet but full of intense fruit flavor! We sipped our coffee and discussed our day ahead… we decided to take it slow and easy as we were both relaxed at this point, and it was only noon.

I was hungry again so I headed to a pizza stand and picked up a slice of pizza with chorizo, pretty good, but I felt like I could have bought this down the street at home. Oh well.

We walked the streets a bit and stopped from time to time to rest our feet. We eventually headed back to the Ponte Vecchio for some day time pictures and it was well worth it.

It was a truly gorgeous day out! (Reminiscent of San Francisco, warm in the sun with a cool breeze, but walk in the shade and it was freezing cold!) We took some neat pictures at the top of the bridge itself! See below!

We headed across the bridge and found a spot of sunshine prior to the sun leaving us for the chilly night air and warmed up a bit, then continued on. The streets were busy, and the cafes were bustling. We stopped in a few shops, browsing the paper goods, leather, and scarfs. I told myself I wanted to get a very nice leather bag to bring home, however I had not come across one yet. The sun was setting and I knew the stores would close soon. As luck would have it, I saw it in the window of a small leather shop. All of their leather is handmade in Italy with Italian manpower. You can tell by the feel and the stitching… the bag is gorgeous. Also sprung for a nice wallet too, why not!? He explained that after 5 or 10 years should it require cleaning, just a little shoe polish will take care of it. I thought to myself, 5 to 10 years?!? Wow… (I paid a pretty penny, but I’m worth it!)

We continued on to attempt to find a locals only restaurant for dinner, but didn’t have much luck. We heard about a restaurant that specialized in pork, but no matter how hard we tried, we could not find it. A few locals had heard of it, knew the basic location, but overall the helpfulness of the locals was less than welcoming. (Funny how people always assume the French are rude, I’ve had quite the opposite experience in France, but the Italians in Florence I’ve found were all quite rude. Minus one or two people here and there.)

Claudia saw a small bar and café during our excursion for the pork restaurant and we opted to go there instead to rest our feet and maybe have a coffee then find a different place for dinner. Café Verrazzano was inviting and comfortable. When we walked in and asked for a table for 2, we were greeted by a New Englander… a Red Sox fan I might add! He was quite the character; talkative, full of weird facts and trivia questions, along with being fluent in Spanish, French, Italian, and English. His family owns Verrazzano winery and he was very proud of that.


His family produced great Chianti, he brought Claudia a 2003 and myself a 2004 that spent some time in oak barrels. I must say I was quite impressed. He asked if we wanted something to eat with the wine, and Claudia said, “Just bring us your best!”

He did.

It was like a pancake made of chickpea flour, friend in olive oil. A thin slice of prosciutto and cheese, white truffle shavings, fresh cracked pepper, and a small spoonful of white truffle cream… Oh…my…gosh… I think we both fainted at first bite. I didn’t want it to end! Nor did Claudia!

He asked if we were still interested in more food… OF COURSE WE WERE!

He brought out bruschetta and drizzled it with 12 year old balsamic vinegar. And by drizzle, I mean drizzle. At 38 Euro for a tiny little bottle… you can guess it was excellent! We polished that off and he brought us one final treat. It was a small slice of bread made in Florence, pecorino cheese, orange zest and thousand flower honey that is made on the winery. WOW! So simple, and so flavorful with the orange zest and honey, balanced with the pecorino cheese. This was truly a great place!

We finished off the evening with a cappuccino and a plate of desserts. Very small slices of tarts from bakery case… a ricotta cream tart that was so amazing, an apple tart, and a chocolate tart. All were so delicious and not rich or to sweet. That is something I love about Europe; none of the desserts are overly sweet and they aren’t the size of a small car. The USA needs to get on the European band wagon when it comes to desserts for sure!

We purchased the honey and bid him farewell – I highly recommend this place for great Chianti and some delicious treats!

A slow stroll to the train station for our shuttle was now on the agenda… and before you knew it, we were back at the hotel.

It was a great day, and great food, and great memories. Now to prepare for Venice!

Good night all, Ciao!