Ciao Firenze!
Dec. 27th, 2012 01:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
misspotterCiao Firenze!
Despite looking up the weather the night before, I neglected to dress appropriately for it...fortunately, the morning was spent on a bus. We only reached Florence after lunchtime (though after a series of dinners/lunches with many servings of pasta and pizza, I was happy to go with my parents' recommendation that I skip lunch and just have some crackers). After this we went for a walk to the Academia, where for the second time I got to see Michelangelo's David (this time with a tour guide who kept harping on how good-looking he was, how "tender" his face was and how we ought to admire his behind). I also saw a Stradivarius violin! But it was a little anticlimactic because I expected it to look significantly different from a regular violin :P and apart from just looking like a really old violin...yeah...I'm sure it sounds a million times better than my old violin though! Oh, and I saw a gigantic "tenor viola" which made me giggle.
It was a very rushed trip though, because we had to see all the highlights of Florence before it got dark (and it's winter now, so...) Our guide really just took us around the major churches of the city before dropping us off outside peruszi leather warehouse. There we spent an hour browsing through all kinds of luxury goods. My mum got a few jackets and other leather goods. I'm not a gigantic fan of leather in general so I wandered over to the sunglasses section. Especially the "50% sale" rack! I found a gorgeous pair of Armani sunnies for €190. I then caved in and bought a lovely little "regenerated leather" (I assume it's recycled, so that's all right with me) wallet for €10. So...that balances it out, right?
Then it was down to our hotel for a 1-hour break before our trek to dinner in the Tuscan Hills. We did a 100-point turn on our way uphill...
...which was totally worth it! I was stuffed full of pasta once the mains came around! And the chef gave me a tour of his kitchen (I suspect it's because I was smiling all night, thanks to a delightful Skype session with J just after checking into the hotel). And there was SO MUCH FOOD. Holy crap. I say this after every Italian meal, but in all seriousness, I cannot believe this. Montebuoni was our best meal yet.
We drove home past a Tuscan monastery which was up on a hill and amazingly beautiful in the moonlight. And at this point I realized I was drunk enough to write J an email without punctuation, so he suggested I head off to bed, which I did. And had to get up at 6am the next morning to trek over to Switzerland.
Despite looking up the weather the night before, I neglected to dress appropriately for it...fortunately, the morning was spent on a bus. We only reached Florence after lunchtime (though after a series of dinners/lunches with many servings of pasta and pizza, I was happy to go with my parents' recommendation that I skip lunch and just have some crackers). After this we went for a walk to the Academia, where for the second time I got to see Michelangelo's David (this time with a tour guide who kept harping on how good-looking he was, how "tender" his face was and how we ought to admire his behind). I also saw a Stradivarius violin! But it was a little anticlimactic because I expected it to look significantly different from a regular violin :P and apart from just looking like a really old violin...yeah...I'm sure it sounds a million times better than my old violin though! Oh, and I saw a gigantic "tenor viola" which made me giggle.
It was a very rushed trip though, because we had to see all the highlights of Florence before it got dark (and it's winter now, so...) Our guide really just took us around the major churches of the city before dropping us off outside peruszi leather warehouse. There we spent an hour browsing through all kinds of luxury goods. My mum got a few jackets and other leather goods. I'm not a gigantic fan of leather in general so I wandered over to the sunglasses section. Especially the "50% sale" rack! I found a gorgeous pair of Armani sunnies for €190. I then caved in and bought a lovely little "regenerated leather" (I assume it's recycled, so that's all right with me) wallet for €10. So...that balances it out, right?
Then it was down to our hotel for a 1-hour break before our trek to dinner in the Tuscan Hills. We did a 100-point turn on our way uphill...
...which was totally worth it! I was stuffed full of pasta once the mains came around! And the chef gave me a tour of his kitchen (I suspect it's because I was smiling all night, thanks to a delightful Skype session with J just after checking into the hotel). And there was SO MUCH FOOD. Holy crap. I say this after every Italian meal, but in all seriousness, I cannot believe this. Montebuoni was our best meal yet.
We drove home past a Tuscan monastery which was up on a hill and amazingly beautiful in the moonlight. And at this point I realized I was drunk enough to write J an email without punctuation, so he suggested I head off to bed, which I did. And had to get up at 6am the next morning to trek over to Switzerland.
