Day 2, Florence

The hotel had advertised an included breakfast. Again, having seen some pretty meager hotel breakfasts, I was not expecting much. In any case they could have offered us cereal and I would still have been happy considering the marble and hardwood extravaganza upstairs! However, it turned out to be an excellent and full spread: fresh bread, yogurt, fancy butter, pots of jam, espresso, cappuccino, charcuterie, cheese, etc etc. They even offered to cook eggs if we wanted them. There was also a high chair waiting for Alex. Awesome.

First stop after the tourist office was the Galleria dell'Accademia. we started off in an extended exhibit of Bartolini sculptures, which I was not so into. The next section was the hall leading up to the David however. The David is magnificent: even as a "normal" sized statue it would be beautiful, but the scale of the sculpture is overwhelming and one of those things that I think is difficult to convey. I walked around it many times, and came back to it later to look at it some more. Also worth mentioning: no lines at all! No line for tickets, no line to get in, no one in front of the statue. On one of my many circlings of the statue I noticed a box stuck to the pedestal called a "SmartBrick", which turns out to be a sophisticated strain logger. The David has cracks in the left ankle and tree which have been known for some time, and the installation of the monitoring system is supposed to help the museum and researchers determine what happens during an earthquake or other shocks. It's pretty high tech stuff, and the same types of strain sensors have been used on high performance sailboat masts. It was also kind of cool to see that a U.S. based nonprofit had paid for part of this system(http://www.friendsofflorence.org/). Zoe was not as impressed by the statue of David. When I asked her whether she liked it, she responded "yeah, but it's too big!".

Afterwards, it was down the street

For lunch at da Nerbone. I discovered at the sandwhich place what "lampretto" is, and decided against it. I know that will expose me as a small palatted fool and is hopelessly unfashionable in today's "Let's eat every part of the animal including the disgusting bits so that we can be cool and get back to our roots", but I dislike tripe and anything else that needs to be sauced heavily and cooked for a long time to make you forget what it is. We went with the boiled beef sandwich which was tasty, but a little too fatty for my taste. I also learned something about line etiquette in Italy, which is that there is even less than in France! You just have to get in front of everyone and aim elbows and your back at people to prevent them from flanking you. Even then people will try to order over your head! Crazy, but entertaining. From lunch, we walked to the Duomo


and after a fortifying cafe and tiramisu at a cafe

walked up Giotto's Campanile.

Zoe walked up all 414 steps to the top.





From there, we tried to do a little shopping but were unsuccessful in finding anything we wanted but it was lovely just walking around. Florence is a really beautiful city

Next it was back to the hotel to get the kids to nap.

After a while it was finally time for dinner. I had been looking forward to this restaurant for a week. Chloe had managed to make reservations earlier in the week, after I had called them at least five times. The restaurant had exceptional ratings on trip advisor, which has so far not been wrong. The walk from the hotel was a bit long, but as usual it is hard to complain when you are passing beautiful churches and building every block, as well as interesting little shops

We eventually arrived at the restaurant (Vini e Vecchi Sapori), and we actually passed by it because it is so small. I had read that it was small, but it is REALLY small. As in, about the size of Zoe and Alex's bedroom. The main guy, Thomas showed us to our table and I knew immediately I was going to love the place. There was just a great homey atmosphere, and the tiny dairy case stuffed with excellent looking charcuterie also helped. We started out with the charcuterie and mozzarella di bufala plate which was excellent

and then moved on to the meatballs for the kids

which they devoured with extreme prejudice

I had the papardelle in a duck ragu which was possibly one of the most simple but perfect pasta dishes I have ever had

and chloe had a pasta in a sauce of saffron and zucchini flowers which was unique and delicious

Alex discovered my pasta about halfway through and began stealing it. The bits of duck did not however meet with his approval and he began yelling "CACA" and pointing at the duck meat. We would then try to quiet him down and remove the duck, he would then eat it, steal another piece, yell "CACA" and on and on. Here's Alex polishing the last of it off

Dessert was equally amazing: Raspberry Tiramisu, flaky biscotti with some kind of armagnac and a light (!) cheesecake.

The tiramisu was so good, and the kids stole enough of it that we had to order a second bowl. To me, this is the epitome of good Italian cuisine: nothing overly dressed up, no infusions, no foams, no need for the word "artisanale", as it is implicit. It is: perfectly balanced textures and individual flavors in a simple presentation. I could probably eat at this restaurant every day for the rest of my life and never need anything else. Afterwards, we found a taxi and went back to the hotel. Florence seems even more beautiful at night as you careen through cobbled piazzas and past colonnaded buildings lit up with the occasional string of xmas lights.