Travel Thoughts and Ramblings: A Little Venting and Some Thoughts on Florence

As we continue our daily rituals of eating and walking, a few observations and thoughts come to us as we explore Florence.

First of all, many tourists come here excited to try Florentine Steak (aka Bistecca). This is a massive t-bone steak that is highly seasoned and served RARE! Yes, it is red in the middle, and it is tender and flavorful and wonderful. The other night, the American family next to us insisted that they didn't want it rare and asked for medium rare. The waiter reluctantly said OK.When it was served it looked perfect to us, but sure enough they sent it back for more grilling. The nice young waiter managed to avoid rolling his eyes, but I envisioned the chef dragging that steak around the floor for a bit before sending it back to the table. Reminded us of the lady in France two years ago and sent back her steak tartare because it was raw. (Remember DG & TZ?)

So if you don't like rare steak, please just order the chicken. And that's my vent for the day.

Oh wait! I'm not done venting. Digital photography has made taking pictures easy but it also has caused people to act like idiots (in MY opinion). We saw a man walk through a museum, stop in front of every relic or work or art, click his camera, and then move on the next one. I watched as he did this over and over never looking up at what he was photographing. We also saw a man walk through a beautiful pizza with his phone in front of him video recording his walk across the square. Will these people go home and look at the pictures of what they could have seen in real life if they had just looked? And today three women shoved me aside as they jockeyed for position to take selfies. I had to capture it for you. Crazy.

Their selfie sticks were actually banging together!

And now a suggestion about gelato. There are tons of places to buy gelato here in Florence. Almost every street has a gelateria or they sell gelato in a bar. I'm not an expert (although I'd love to try to be) but from what I've read, there are huge differences in the quality you will find here. The gelateria closest to the tourist areas generally display their gelato in these huge colorful mounds hoping to entice the tourists to come in and buy some. Here's one example.

Experts say to look for a place that has smaller containers of gelato and maybe even an area in the back where you can see they are making the gelato right in the store. Like this one.

Notice the gelato containers are kept covered.

There really is a difference, and it's worth the trouble to find the good stuff!

Speaking of good stuff, we went in search of a flat white this morning. When we were in England two years ago we discovered and loved this coffee drink and have had problems finding them in the States (except for Starbucks and they just aren't the same). I'd read about a place here that makes them down by Santa Croce so we went this first thing this morning. Funny, but to us it tasted just like a cappuccino. The only difference was that it was twice the cost of a cappuccino! Go figure. We won't do that again.

While we were in the neighborhood, we stopped by the Leather School behind Santa Croce Church. It's an interesting place and while there may be deals there, most of the stuff was pretty expensive. But the quality was very good. Greg looked at the belts but we didn't buy anything today.

One of the students at the leather school. I'll take that purse, please.

Interesting staircase behind the church.

We spent the morning wandering around the Oltrano area (the other side of the Arno), grabbed a panini for lunch, bought dinner ingredients at the Mercato Centrale, and came home to rest. This afternoon we visited the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo which is located behind the Duomo. This is a fascinating place, and although we were there several years ago, it has been redone and is even better. The video of the history of the Duomo dome is wonderful, and the sculptures are beautiful.

Here's a few of my pictures dedicated to friends back home.