July 23 Firenze (Florence)

A beautiful city filled with art. While many tourists visit (probably more than Milan) and while we mainly stayed in the tourist areas, it felt like there was life beyond that and that it was a generally nice place to live. The only problem was that it was also going through a long heat wave, along with many other places in Italy.

DUOMO

The colors are pretty different from the duomos I've seen so far - I wonder if it's the region or the time period in which the duomo was built. We didn't feel like waiting on line to go inside so we headed to the next destination instead.

CAPELLE MEDICI

The Medici family tomb. The colors are similar to the Duomo, so maybe it's a Medici family thing or at least their time period thing.

Moral of this weekend is don't forget to look up

MERCATO CENTRALE

Just outside there is a leather market (think bags, jackets, gloves, wallets), where we attempted and somewhat successfully bargained for belts.

Produce, bread, cheese, meat, fish, international foods - all on the first floor. The second level is a food hall, probably run by the same company that operates the food hall in Milan's Central Station, judging from the art and signage. We also bumped into Kiera and William here.

Da Nerbone

Panini di Lampredotto (cow stomach)

Panini di Pollo Ripieno (chicken stuffed with ham and cheese)

Both sandwiches were pretty mild in flavor. Texturally there was good contrast between the slightly soft meat and the hard crusty bun

Pan Da Lory

Kranz - sweet bread with raisins and orange flavor. love the sweet glaze and crunchy sugar on the outside! there are definitely some visible layers in the dough so it might be slightly laminated, but it was more of a bread than a rich pastry

On the way to our next stop, we passed by the Duomo where there was an opera singer! While for me, opera on the streets is very stereotypical, this is the first time I've actually seen it. The closest to this that I've witnessed in the past is when a vendor starting singing along to some Verdi that he was playing at his stall in the Rome flea market. This singer sang two songs: one from Verdi and another a traditional Napoli song. During the Napoli sing, an older man was singing along and clearly enjoying himself. Pleasant experience!

Opera singer, tourist, beggar = Florence. Just kidding. Also, look at the little girl!

PONTE VECCHIO

Famous bridge

We're on the bridge

PALAZZO PITTI

Owned by Medici family and power base for Napoleon. Lots of art, primarily of the 1600s-1700s. The contemporary art section was primarily of the 1800s... [scratches head]

Can you see the sweat lol? I'm not going to make this photo any bigger hehe

Sculptures were extra cool. Maybe because of Michelangelo's legacy? Or maybe Florence was the ideal environment for cultivating great sculptors?

Also we kept forgetting to look up at the ceiling. Pretty much every room had ceilings ornamented with beautiful paintings and complex trim.

GIARDINO DI BOBOLI

It was getting very hot. We walked around on the sandy paths for a bit, trying to stay in the shady parts. But after an hour and only getting through half of the park, we couldn't do it anymore. It was 103 degrees Fahrenheit and it was basically impossible to stay in the sun for longer than 15 seconds. It was slightly more bearable. On the way out, we bumped into Kiera and William again who kindly recommended a boba place that we desperately needed.

Hehe boba in the pocket

SAN TEA HOUSE

Cold drink, AC...aah...everything we needed.

Also, after we unsuccessfully tried to look for schiacciata fiorentina. The cafes/bakeries we visited likely didn't have them because they are more common during Carnival season.

LA FELTRINELLI BOOK STORE

It was still too hot to go anywhere and this had AC. They had a pretty large food section, relatively to the rest of the place. Books solely on Tuscan food, bread, pasta, coffee, wine. Tells you what they prioritize :))

For reference on how it was, after going through a week of 100+ degree weather, the 93 degree weather I experienced on the day I'm writing this felt so good.

GELATARIA MY SUGAR

Finally at around 5 pm (we left the garden around 3 pm), it was finally somewhat bearable to walk more than 10 minutes somewhere. We decided to head back to the Mercato Centrale but stopped by this gelato place first.

Black sesame - pretty standard but great gelato texture!

Mint and basil - primarily mint (I'm not the biggest fan of spear/peppermint), some basil flavor

MERCATO CENTRALE 2.0

We tried to bargain again, this time a bit more for fun. Turns out, not everyone is willing to bargain. The lesson we learned here is to (1) figure what you're looking for, (2) find out a reasonable price sellers are willing to go down to, perhaps by walking away from an offer, and (3) look for someone who is willing to bargain, or more likely they will try to lure you in. Then, be confident and play your cards!

We actually found schiacciata fiorentina here! We almost missed it, if not for Ash. Makes sense to find it in a more touristy area.

The outside cake parts were pretty sturdy. It's traditionally yeast risen and this one might have been. Cakey crust part was not very sweet, main flavor was butter. Also there was the bite from the cake crumb (so probably not cake flour). Filling was between a pastry cream and custard. And it had strong dairy flavor!

TRATTORIA DA GINONE

This was in the Santo Spirito area, which is more residential but just across the bridge from Centro Storico. We originally wanted to go to Osteria Santo Spirito, but that place was fully booked. So we surveyed the menus at several trattorias before settling on this one. Glad we came here though.

Carpaccio di lingua, sedano e olio di limone (Veal tongue with celery and lemon oil) - very tender tongue. celery for contrast in texture. oil was only slightly lemony, probably lemon infused olive oil?
Cervello fritto (fried veal brains!) - at first I thought it came with the tongue as an addition to the dish. So I thought it was fried egg white, at least in terms of texture. It was soft and pillowy, almost pudding like but with more bite - hence the fried egg white. The predominant flavor was definitely fried (yes fried is a flavor) and the high-quality salt they used 👌. But when I took it apart, the grey matter was more minerally (but only slightly) than the white matter which was more flavorless. Maybe because white matter is more fatty. More axons?? I'm not sure. The white parts could also not correspond to white matter and the gray parts could also not correspond to grey matter. (Yes inconsistent spelling of grey.)

Gnudi alla salvia e scoglie di parmigiano (gnudi with sage and shaved parm)- looks like gnocchi but less doughy. very fluffy and not chewy at all. Light flavor overall.

Spaghetti alla chitarra con bottarga e limone - egg noodles, spongey texture reminds me of yi mien. bottarga add a cheese like saltiness with some sea funk. light lemon flavor, perfumed with just a bit of zest. lemon flavor is strengthened when add cheese! just like in Como!