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Published: October 6th 2007
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Adorable sidewalk cafe Oltrarno
It is amazing how the trattorias and cafes take advantage of every tiny space. Such a tease...yes, Paris! We just booked tix to Paris for the end of the month! Woo hoo! Our first side trip! We are contemplating other side trips: Rome, Chianti, Prague, Croatia...yep, Croatia. It's just a quick ferry ride across the Adriatic and it is supposed to be beautiful and unspoiled and inexpensive. We'll see how it pans out 😊.
Get ready for a long read...today was busy! We walked over 9 miles and had a few adventures...
What to do today? We had NO idea and oddly, no inspiration...so we started to walk and we ended up at the Duomo. Well, while we're here we should take some pics. We pass by the Duomo area a few times a week at all hours of the day and it is ALWAYS busy. Large tourist groups with each member a wearing headset with a leader holding an unopened umbrella high in the air while reciting facts and trivia about the construction and history of the Duomo in every language. Smelly gypsies showing you pictures of their kids, begging you for money. College students burdened by HUMONGOUS backpacks taking in Florence, the current city on their European adventure.
It is
Williams-Sonoma
Eat your heart out! always a circus - but today, thankfully, it is a little overcast and still before noon, so it's not as nuts as it will be by 3 o'clock. Gus and I saunter around the huge cathedral, taking in the intricate details that make up one of the worlds most incredible art pieces. I mean, how doe you even build something like this? How long it must have taken and how expensive it must have been! We wonder how much it would cost to recreate today and if we even have craftsman capable of putting something like this together. Then Gus asks, "I wonder how much it weighs..." Crikey! I can't even begin to guess. The whilte, green and coral marble are spectacular and the bronze work on the doors is so intricate, I cannot even imagine the patience it must have taken. Clearly I would not be a good candidate for this type of construction given my ADD!
Across the street from the Duomo Gus finds his mecca - an small, yet amazingly vast wine shop. They have some amazing wine and Gus is soon drooling! I am taking in the food area - Williams-Sonoma eat your heart out!
We leave empty handed knowing full well that given the proximity to this massive tourist attraction jacks the prices up AT LEAST 200%. Besides, we are finding out slowly where to find our bargains.
We move on to a much smaller piazza that reminds us of the career we will choose when we move here - Moped Shop Owner! There are mopeds everywhere! They are the most cost effective and speedy form of transportation and they all seem relatively new. The bikes, on the other hand, are old, rickety and most remind me of the Wicked Witche's bike in the Wizard of Oz - like they are handed down from generation to generation. Yep, Moped Shop Owner - that's the sweet meal ticket!
So we walk some more and come upon Piazza Santa Croce - but it is HOPPIN'! The other times we've been here there have been a few street vendors, but the center of the square is always vacant. Not Today. The square is filled with vendors from all over Europe - we gathered that it was some sort of European cultural event. There were spice vendors from France, German and Polish sausage/pork/saurkraut vendors, Dutch cheese-folk
and Austrian pretzel dudes. It was so much fun to walk around and see all the fun food, arts and crafts from all over Europe. Upon having one whiff of the Polish keilbasa vendors' goods we knew we had to have lunch. We shared a HUGE keilbasa with mustard and (forgive us) ketchup. It was SO yummy! I wanted to partake of the saurkraut, but realized fairly quickly that pregnancy and cabbage (in ANY form) do not mix - boo hoo!
After some more wandering around it was nap time! I love the Italians - 3 hours in the middle of the day to rest! Brilliant! We have been taking full advantage of our siesta times. It's like clockwork - we just run out of steam between 1 and 2 in the afternoon.
Shopping! Yes, we must do more shopping! We headed back out to the Piazza San Lorenzo - so far the biggest and best market we have found. I bought matching soft, gray wraps for Sally and I and found a sweet red leather purse - yippeee - RED! I can't wait to use it! It's always fun to use our limited Italian and using it
to negotiate with the vendors is somewhat comedic. Some, realizing you are American, start to speak English after you have lead the conversation in Italian. Others, like the scarf lady, comprehending my Italian, reels of, REALLY FAST, in Italian explaining why she only has one gray scarf and that she will have to return to the storage area to retrieve more. There was much more to it than that, but that's all I caught. It was really funny - she REALLY thought I was fluent - ha!
After so much activity, there was NO way dinner was going to be at home tonight - no energy to cook or clean up. Instead we decide to visit an Indian restaurant we had found earlier in the week. It is located right by the Ponte Vecchio - which was perfect because we got there in time for Gus to take some really great shots of the bridge at night.
Here's a little equation for you - tell me if you think it adds up - Florence + Indian Restaurant + Gangsta Rap. Of course, what ELSE would you be listening to at an Indian restaurant in Florence?! I mean, come
on, they were made for each other! When we got there there was some normal restaurant music playing - you know - soft, low and APPROPRIATE! Then about half way through dinner the guy behind the take out counter starts to dust off a CD and puts it in the player. About 5 seconds later we are being serenaded by 50 Cent! And not the censored, made for public version, the version complete with profanity and innappropriate discussion about "bitches." I am about 3 seconds from trying to explain in Italian that this music is COMPLETELY inappropriate for a restaurant when Gus says "Do you think they just play it because it's in English and they really don't know what is being said?" Man, I should hope so. Thankfully the song changes to some other rapper that I successfully tune out. The dinner was delicious and a welcome departure from pizza, pasta and all things Italian.
Ironically, however (this restaurant is FULL of irony), they also serve Italian food. And by the looks of our fellow diners, about half are having Italian food. This raises another question - If you are in a restaurant called "Tandoori" - why would
you order pasta carbonara?! Eh, I just don't get it.
I am also 15 weeks pregnant today! Whoa! How did that happen??? I thought that by now the bouts of nausea, etc would have passed, but I think in my unfamiliar surroundings and unfamiliar food has caused them to stick around longer than they should. I can usually keep it at bay by eating every 2 hours, but I really can't wait for the symptoms to be GONE! I am also at that weird phase where sometimes my normal pants fit and sometimes they don't. After 3 pm - FORGET IT - that's the maternity pant only zone. Before then, it's a toss up. Getting dressed in the morning is humorous because I am never sure what will exactly fit. Thank goodness I went shopping before we left and bought extra long shirts!
Buona notte tutti!
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AC
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15 weeks!
NJ and M C'mon---put on a bikini so we can see the real belly! This is such a fun read.....Keep up the great work. You might think about writing a column about your travels for some magazine or newspaper... AC