Firenze 2: Under The Tuscan Sun

Ok, ok, I know I know...I failed on my goal to do two posts a day. I ended up going out to dinner with my friend Jason last night...SORRY. It's kinda ironic though because on this day (in Italy) I also failed on my gelato goal. I did not eat gelato..I did however eat everything else in all of Italy....and even more ironic, on this day in Italy I listened to the song Ironic by Alanis Morissette, so mull that over in your little noggins. I'm debating whether to try to mash all the rest of this trip in or just give up and restart when I get back from the cruise. We'll see how it goes.

Again, I became bored with breakfast. I'm not a big breakfast person to start with, so eating breakfast is kind of a chore. I decided to make myself fantastic little ham and cheese sandwiches off of the meat and cheese platter and basket of breads and rolls. Quite tasty. I also decided to switch up my typical American coffee for a cappuccino. Also a delicious choice. The breakfast location at the hotel in Florence is not nearly as charming as the one in Rome in that this one is basically just on the sidewalk in front of the hotel, so there's all sorts of traffic and people noise. Also, I don't think I mentioned this but Rome smelled really good like a weird alternating melange (new favorite word by the way) of flowers, yummy food, and expensive stores. Florence does not smell yummy. It smells like leather and sewer, so eating breakfast on the sidewalk is not nearly as appetizing.

Today Riccardo, another random father work person, is taking us to some small towns in Tuscany. First we stopped at San Gimignano. (I love that I can butcher this in google, and it actually knows what the hell I'm talking about). We walked around and took pictures and shopped in little cute Tuscany-y shops. We hopped back in the car and drove to Siena. In Siena we had some pizza for lunch...nothing really note worthy about that and Riccardo told us about the Palio that Siena is famous for. It was really hot so we just kinda chilled at the restaurant looking at the bell tower and watching all the people in the plaza. Then my mom decides she wants to climb the 400 steps to the top of the bell tower. This is a ridiculously stupid idea (sorry, mom) for two reasons a) my mom has hip and back problems and was having issues just walking around Siena so 400 steps is going to be a piece of cake (sarcasm) and b) she's scared of heights. My dad says he wouldn't mind doing it either and then they look at me and I'm like I don't really want to, but if everyone else is going, I'm not just going to chill down here by myself. So...off we go. Did I mention it's really hot too? The sign outside the bell tower entrance says the climb is not recommended for pregnant women or people with heart conditions or giddiness. What? Giddiness? I see that the French translation is "vertige" apparently they translated vertigo to mean giddiness. The steps are really winding and kind of big.

That was the stairs, if you couldn't tell. But we get to the top...ooo...the excitement. After coming back down, I guzzle two giant Coke Lights like my life depends on it and try to forget the fact that I will now have dried sweat and stink on me for the rest of the day. We visit the Duomo in Siena (every city pretty much has a duomo). It's all black and white inside and kind of disorienting.

See? After the duomo, it's time for me, my dad and Riccardo to head off to Tuscan wine school. We drink a bunch of wine and learn all about the wine regions in Tuscany, the type of grapes, the Italian wine classification system, and the proper way to taste a wine. Very informative and tasty class. Riccardo is trying to flirt with Maria Louisa the teacher, so that's fun too. We meet back up with my mom who I had sent on a mission to find me an olive oil pourer. No olive oil thing for me, but she does have a present for Danielle...of course she does. We go back to the car, and Riccardo starts being very secretive just saying he is taking us to the "most beautiful place on earth." We start winding through the back hills of Tuscany, and I start wondering how well my dad really knows this guy or if we are being lured to our death. We eventually arrive at the Villa Belvedere which is apparently where Riccardo is staying. It's gorgeous (and where I took the picture at the top of the page.) He has wine, bread, and some prosciutto and salami laid out. It's now 7pm. On normal days we would've already eaten dinner by this time, so I'm pretty hungry and even though I don't really like either, I chow down on the deliciously unhealthy meat products.

After relaxing for probably a half hour and enjoying the view and the quiet, we get back in Riccardo's car and drive through the Tuscan country side apparently to dinner. I realize as I'm gazing out the window that I'm having my own little chick flick moment of reflection: mysterious suave Italian guy behind the wheel, sun setting over the hills of Tuscany, linen pants (because nothing says chick flick and Tuscany like a pair of linen pants. SN on linen pants: I bought this pair of light blue linen pants out of the VS catalog a couple years ago. I love them, but realize that I have no place to where them. Where does one where linen pants? Tuscany. That's where....Riccardo had on linen pants too.) Unfortunately my parents, and the Alanis that Riccardo has in his CD player interrupt my chick moment. Glad to know Jagged Little Pill is alive and well somewhere.

We turn onto what Italians call a "white road" which is basically white gravel and drive on that for about another 20 minutes into the middle of nowhere. In fact, I think we passed the middle of nowhere, dropped off the face of the Earth and then arrived at this restuarant. It is now 8:30 (normally close to my family's bedtime in Italy). We have a full Italian meal. Normally we've been ordering just one course or possibly two if I get a caprese salad. The Italian meal typically follows in this pattern: Some sort of appetizer or salad, pasta, and then a meat course of some type. For our appetizer we have Fettunta, which is this unbelievable grilled bread soaked in olive oil (no garlic on the one we got). Apparently they used the really good olive oil on it for us because Riccardo kept talking about how expensive the olive oil was. I then had ravioli for my pasta course. Pretty good. By this time, I'm tired (we've also been drinking a DOCG chianti classico) and full, so when the meat course arrives I can barely force any down. We get a huge platter of pork ribs with fennel, roasted potatoes and an artichoke salad. Delicious, but just too much food. They offer me dessert and as much as I would love to keep up my gelato a day habit, I just can't. We arrive back at the hotel at 11 to the sounds of a concert loudly going on on the piazza. Doesn't matter as I fall immediately asleep and dream about facebook and e-mail. Sickeningly serious. Probably one of my best days ever.