L'Italia è bella (e deliziosa)

Temporary conversion from Derek's lovely narrative posts to Ariel's considerably less polished (and definitely less entertaining - my apologies) bullet points. But I am not so patient as Derek when it comes to writing, and I want to put this down so I don't forget all the travel and places and food food food....


August 6 :

Metro to bus to plane to bus to Treviso.

Dinner: English pub. Bruschette (giant rounds of toast with lovely things baked on top).
Derek: Iforgottheitalianname (parma ham, mozarella, tomato sauce, and yummy caramelized yellow bell peppers).
Ariel: Porchetta fungi (tomato sauce, mozarella, chopped button mushrooms, and ohmygoddelicious (delicious!) sliced roast pork).

One night at lovely (and blessedly air conditioned) Hotel Continental.


Side note:
I love staying in hotels. I get so excited about it. When I was a kid we didn't have air conditioning, and sometimes when the weather got just too darn hot we'd drive a couple of towns over and stay at a hotel. The hotel was the vacation. Air conditioning, and a pool, and those danishes with little blobs of jelly in the middle, and way more television channels than we had at home...what more could you want, really?


August 7 :

Pleasant breakfast in hotel's 'Coffee Room'. Yogurt and granola and very yummy very very strong coffee and tea and the cutest little individual-sized packets of nutella and honey and whole-grain rolls and wonderful wonderful (I ate two) peaches. Snagged apples for later snack, and picked up sandwiches for lunch at the Treviso train station.
Derek: Was going to get traditional ham and cheese, but (based on last night's roast pork yumminess) went instead with notquitesoyummyaslastnight,butstillquitegood porchetta. An excellent decision.
Ariel: focaccia caprese, which I though would be just nice, and actually turned out to be really delicous (flat bread filled with mozarella, tomatoes, basil, and - this was the best part and a delightful surprise - green olives. YUM.)

Train from Treviso to Mestre to (!) Florence. Short walk to hotel, the even lovelier Relais Cavalcanti. Met at the door by our very friendly host. Short break for settling in & (for me) a brief siesta.

Back out into lovely Florence! Went to the Duomo (inside just closed), walked around it & saw the very short line to climb the dome - why not! 463 steps is a lot. I have a feeling my legs will have something to say about it later. Lovely views. Pictures later. Florence sure is pretty.

Made it down (legs already talking to me), and went to the highly recommended (thanks Jessica, and also Rick Steves) Grom for gelatto. YUM, and cold and we'regoingbackeveryday,maybetwice,ifihavenanythingtosayaboutit.
Derek: limone (so tart that it tasted extra cold)
Ariel: melone (made with special 'Honey Moon' melons, said the sign, and since this is sort of a honeymoon trip...)

Went to the baptistry - gorgeous, amazingly gorgeous mosaic ceiling (so very much gold), and intricate stone-tiled floor - then for a lovely walk through crazily beautiful piazzas, past statues out of art history text books, to the river.

Dinner:
Osteria de' Benci - a wonderful recommendation from our hosts. Shared an antipasto plate of a variety of sliced cured hams and sausages, and got a mezzo (50cl carafe) of the house wine - YUM all around.
Derek: spiral pasta with (lots of) garlic, parmesan, and spicy peppers.
Ariel: macheronette pasta with pecorino romano cream sauce, fresh cherry tomatoes, and fresh basil (drooooool)

Home to shower and collapse - soooooo tired.


And now it's the next day, and we're off to the Accademia! Oh boy oh boy....