Firenze, Italia (That's Florence, Italy)

28 June We finally arrived in Florence and it was a long drive from Monte Carlo which we left at around 11 a.m. today. We came on the autostrade (A8 to A12 to A11) which is a much faster route than the road by the coast but it is a toll road and well worth it if you want to make good time. The coastline of northern Italy from the French border along the Italian Riviera all the way to La Spezia (just north of Cinque Terre) is very mountainous and there are many bridges and tunnels. As I was carrying on the other day in this journal about how many tunnels there might be, Gary suggested as we started out that I might want to keep track of how many and how long they were.....

Today's journal entry should be titled, "Looking for the light at the end of the tunnels"--- all 168 of them!!! There were 6 between Monte Carlo and the France/Italy border and then another 105 between the border and Genoa. Finally, there were another 57 between Genoa and La Spezia. Yes, I did keep track of the total distance-- It was 83.6 km which is about 52 miles of tunnels!! (& for those of you who want to know: the longest one was 2010 meters, the shortest was 25 meters & the average was 498 meters...)

Today's journal entry should be titled, "Looking for the light at the end of the tunnels"

We stopped for gas just before Bassadona and grabbed some espresso and split a sandwich. I wouldn't mention this but a police car pulled up next to us in the parking lot and both policemen went inside for a sandwich and a beer for lunch. Now I really know we're not in the states..... :-)

During the first half of our journey today, I noticed big numbers of quite large green houses all over the hills and lower parts of the mountains. I need to find out what all is grown there. Another observation was that while we were in France and Monte Carlo in particular, we noticed that the majority of people have awnings, even in the most luxurious of buildings & houses. I saw some after we arrived back in Italy but not to the same degree as the use of shutters is more common here. Maybe some awnings would be a solution to our patio cover problem......

We were a tad concerned about finding our way into the old part of Florence from the autostrade, but our excellent map, Gary's good sense of direction and the excellent directions from our hotel's web site made it easier than we had expected. Soon we were driving in the old part of Florence on the old cobbled one way streets and actually found our hotel and even more shocking, there was an open parking spot close by.

The entrance to Hotel Davanzati is just a staircase up into an old building off the sidewalk. The reception/office isn't on the ground floor or the first floor but on the second floor (third floor in the U.S.). Tom greeted us warmly and came down to put a notice on our car so it wouldn't be towed. They have controlled access to the old area and you'll receive a ticket if you cross into the area without proper authorization (there are cameras at each access point that record all license#s that cross). He put our license# in the police system to void our number from being ticketed..... pretty interesting.

Tom was full of all kinds of very helpful information and was very friendly (I felt right at home) He informed us of recommended restaurants of which we tried one tonight and were very, very happy. We will recommend this one to any of our friends who make a trip to Florence. It is called Ristorante Natalino (Bargo degli Albizo, 17r) and is in the old district of Santa Croce in the deconsecrated former church of the S. Pierro Maggiore. The restaurant has been there for 130 years and you can still see the ancient capitals and frescoes.

When we arrived (with reservations, of course) we found a few outside tables and two just inside. The hostess asked if we wanted to eat outside or in the back room, which she added was air-conditioned. With it being so hot, we asked for the back room. If you ever go, do the same thing as this is the area that used to be the church and is very beautiful.

The food is also very good and the prices are very reasonable. Gary ordered a bottle of wine, Brunello di Montacino 2001 (Col D'orcia), that he has wanted to try since reading about it in Cindy's book, Too Much Tuscan Sun (very entertaining book by the way if you get a chance- written by a tour guide here with some very amusing tourist stories). It was less expensive at this restaurant than any other place he had seen it on this trip.

I ordered Prociutto and Melone and Gary ordered a great pear, cheese & honey antipasta. Then for the first course I ordered the Fiocchini (which Tom at Hotel Davanzati had recommended) which are small pastas stuffed with Gorgonzola and pear (wonderful -- also the potion sizes were reasonable) and Gary ordered the Ravioli with Rocket (their name for lettuce - not iceberg though) with a great pesto style sauce. For our second course, I ordered the stuffed lamb (done very nicely) and Gary ordered another of Tom's recommendations, a great meatloaf, which he really enjoyed. Gary got a dessert which are biscuits ( really more like biscotti) and spirit, a special liquor that you dunk the biscuits into. We both ordered a little espresso and walked back to the hotel having spent a very pleasant evening....

29 June Our room is at the back of the hotel and doesn't get much light so we slept in until close to eight-- we'll need to use the alarm clock tomorrow morning. We went upstairs to breakfast buffet which was not as plentiful as the last two hotels that we stayed at but it was still very adequate.

We walked over to the Pitti Palace via Ponte Vecchio (I stopped to fill my water bottle at the old water fountain there) and bought tickets for exploring the Pitti Palace and the Gardens of Bobili and Bardini. I had been looking forward to the gardens but after having seen the perfectly manicured gardens at the villas we visited in the Lake Como area, I was a bit disappointed. There were weeds growing everywhere and the hedges were not being trimmed very well. It's sad and a little irritating as we paid more to see this than any of the villas. I did enjoy the Porcelain Museum at the top of the hill in the gardens. There are some gorgeous old porcelain, mainly dinnerware.

After hiking down to the Oceanus Fountain and pool, we needed to hike back up to get over to the palace. The palace was, what shall I say.... just a bit over the top! I don't know how anyone could live like that. Of course, we had to check out the throne room. As Gary frequently quotes Mel Brooks, "It's good to be the king"! I wonder just how much it was really used.... and it was only two rooms away from the palace's chapel. From there we walked back over the Arno River and stopped to get a quick lunch at Caffe' delle Carrozze (Gelateria & Panineria). I had some great lemon soda with my little panini.

On we went to the Uffizi -- our reservations had been arranged for three o'clock. We didn't have to wait long in line before we were in and wandering through the close to fifty gallery rooms in this museum which is one of the oldest art galleries in the world. My feet were aching but we had to see everything. We had missed this on our last trip here two years ago-- never plan to visit a museum or gallery in Italy on a Monday- we learned-- this time it was scheduled for a Thursday. This is a definite must if you go to Florence even if you must line up and deal with the masses of tourists.. :-)

We left around five and I hobbled down the street to find the little gelateria that Cindy had recommended from her time spent here. We found it, with her direction and a good map. I had the caffe gelato and the limone gelato. Gary tried the limone, vanilla and the chocolate (unlike our chocolate ice cream for sure) gelato.Very good and they did have some unusual flavors (though we didn't try them). Thanks, Cindy....

Next on our list was to take a rest with our feet up at the hotel to recover a little. Dinner reservations were set for 9 p.m. at a little place here that's off the beaten path but highly recommended by Gary's sister, Barbara. She also has a friend who is the CEO of a large store chain in the U.S. who entertains designers there so we figured it must be good. Then Gary found a glowing review of it on traveltruth.com.

We were dropped by taxi at nine at Osteria delle Tre Panche (Via A Pacinotti, 32/R) and it is indeed small with three tables (& we estimated the dining room to be about 300 sq. ft.). Each table had been set for four people and we shared a table with a couple of smartly dressed Italian men. The owner sits behind his little desk which is a little elevated so that he can direct all the activity from there. He speaks with his customers (we were only about four ft away from him) and oversees the chef and waiter from there. Apparently, he was paralyzed in a sky diving accident but he seems to really love what he's doing. When we mentioned that his restaurant was recommended by Gary's sister who lives in Dallas, he commented how many people from Dallas come when they are in Florence.

Tre Panache met and exceeded my expectations for wonderful food. We did as Barbara had suggested and let them pick our dishes for us.

Our first antipasta were two small toasts with pate and tomatoes. Gary ordered a bottle of IBALZINI Black Label 2000 which was a blend of Cabernet, Merlot and Dail Colli Delli Toscana Centrale that was really good. Our first course arrived and was cheese filled pasta covered with a delightful light white sauce with a generous amount of shaved truffles. YUM!!! Our second course was thinly sliced beef (not like what we have in the states) with a wonderful balsamic reduction sauce over the meat and topped off with rocket (Gary calls them weeds.. :-). Wonderful!! The owner shared with Gary how to make the sauce so he plans to try when we get home.

The final course was a warm cheesecake that was unlike any cheesecake I'd ever had. It had a different texture and was very light (though not filled with air) and the crust was divine, was very light, crumbly and crisp with just a touch of sweetness. This was the best cheesecake ever. As you can tell by now, this is at the top of my lists for restaurants visited on this trip and I give it my very highest recommendation.

We returned to the hotel and Fabrizio (Tom's dad & the family that runs the hotel) asked for our review of the Tre Panache as he has never been & now he and his wife are planning to try it. He offered a us a nightcap of espresso and Sombuca. We agreed and spent some time chatting. Sambuca is a strong anise liquor and very nice in espresso........

Tomorrow, it's off to Siena and the famous Palio!