Pitti party at the Palace

Today was our last day in Florence so we were feeling low. Decided to go to the Pitti Palace, which is like deciding to go to the Louvre on your last day in Paris. But it was a hard decision; there are still many, many beautiful palaces, churches and museums to see in Florence that will have to wait for another day. Not to mention all the tripe stands we never tried. I'm sure there's a life lesson in that but it eludes me.
As for the the Palace, it was Pittifully over the top. Stuffed with paintings by Rafael,  Botticelli, Rubens, tons of others all crammed together in ornate rooms with humongous chandeliers and ceilings painted with fantastical scenes.
Later, with my keen eye for gourmet cooking, I was drawn to a place with a statue of Pinnochio in front. I had promised to send a photo of said wooden boy to my friend's son. This restaurant,  Osteria Toscanella, had great homemade pasta with wild boar sauce and a dish called Peposa, pieces of beef in wine and peppercorn sauce. We tottered home, pausing only for our last gelato (in Florence). Carmen's was tangy mango and peach and mine was Vin Santo with crumbled biscotti. We should be packing but we are ruminating instead.

No Tripe

Today we went in search of one of Carmen's tripe stands. This one served 'nervetti', which are beef tendons.  Alas we never found it.  But by accident we came upon Santa Croce,  a great mass of a church with a statue of Dante outside. Who puts a writer like Dante outside of a church? Inside it was chock full of the famously dead. I've combined the tombs of Galileo (on the left) and Michaelangelo (on the right) onto one photo. Machievelli is there, as is Rossini, as well as paintings by Giotto's and Taddeo Gaddi. Good stuff.
After what Carmen called a light lunch: mozzarella and grilled vegetables and salad nicoise, we did manage to find Vivoli, a renowned gelateria, where we indulged in two scoops each. Carmen's chocolate with pepperocino was the best.

Fiesole

To avoid the crowds,  and take a little break from Florence, we took the #7 bus today to Fiesole, a little town outside of Florence. One of its claims to fame is that you can look right back at Florence from a beautiful panoramic viewpoint. 

And it has Roman ruins, including this theater, still used today.  Carmen was more interested in the vomitorium and the ancient WC. To each her own.

Afterwards we had a light lunch of chicken liver pate on crostini,  spaghetti with oil and garlic and spinach  to be virtuous.  And to save room for gelato when we got back to Firenze. 

Tanti Aguri a Te

Today was Carmen's birthday and we started off by climbing to the top of the Doumo, 463 steps,  her idea I assure you.
Beautiful views of all of Florence,  even the little garden apartment where we are staying. Got her to take this selfie.
Tired and jelly legged we went in search of a restaurant and decided on one in a quiet little street where we could have Ribollito, the Tuscan bread soup. At a back table,  the restaurant staff were having their own meal, and when it was over, I saw a lovely cake with a candle. As luck would have it, it was the owner's birthday too. When I told his wife, they shared their ice cream cake with us. Of course she asked how old Carmen was and she was so impressed with Carmen's age that she loudly told everyone in the restaurant. Carmen gilded the lily by saying she had climbed the Doumo that morning. Shocked Admiration! And laughter when Carmen told them she would be dead by tomorrow from exhaustion.
Enough Carmen worship. Tomorrow I'll be back to dragging her into churches against her will.

Tripe, part 2

We went to the Uffizzi today. Yawn.  The big news is we found yet another tripe stand. This time we were more savvy and ordered a bowl instead of a sloppy, spotty sandwich. Lampredotto with artichokes in a spicy tomato sauce. Not for the faint of heart (aka: tourists), this stand was full of regulars, almost all of them getting bowls. Later, on our afternoon walk we found 2 more stands! And one of them sold Nervetti, beef tendons. Carmen was leaping for joy. Thank God we have 5 more days to space all that offal out.

As for the Uffizzi, we took all that fine art very seriously. 

Firenze High Points

Carmen met two of her major goals for coming to Italy today. She ate a tripe sandwich from a cart in the street and then had truffle slices over a poached egg in the central market. Let's start with the tripe: messy but delicious,  I got it on my shirt. They call it lampredotto and the bread was soaked in a little extra broth and some salsa verde. The poached egg had an deep orange yolk and the clerk poured olive oil all over it before serving.
Afterwards Carmen was in a delirious state and I gently led her into two churches so I could view the Massacio's and Giotto's. Usually she protests but she was triped out. Here's one of my favorite places in Florence, the Medici Chapel by Michaelangelo. It's Dawn and Dusk, or Day and Night, I can never remember which.

David was here

Today we visited David at the Accademia. He's over 500 years old but looking good, from every angle. He is something of a super star: some people wanted to see him and others wanted to be seen With him. This resulted in some jostling and demands to move over once you took a picture. But still,  the Accademia must control how many people are allowed in because it wasn't a complete circus; there was time to really look, once the fanatics moved on. And of course time to take the silly selfie, which I had to twist Carmen's arm to do.
Later we wandered across the bridge in search of a suitable restaurant. We found a lovely place under an arcade, where we had asparagus', cannolloni beans, grilled portobello and pasta with wild boar sauce. The cook, a little Italian mamma came out to ask us if we liked the food. No wonder, since everyone else was eating pizza.
It's almost 5PM, time for our gelato run.

Firenze

It was pouring rain and cold in Bologna when we left. But Florence is sunny, hot and so crowded. Our apartment, in the same building as the Leonardo Scuola, is in a back courtyard with the the most amazing view of the Duomo. We hurried out, too tired to really focus on where to eat. But we lucked out at a quiet restaurant around the corner. Pictured here is just the antipasta course. Later we had an almond gelato and almond granita at Caribe,  a Scicilian gelato place.
Now we are waiting for our laundry to finish steaming. 2 hours to wash, 2 hours to "sort of" steam dry.