Firenze, the Land of Leather and Chocolate

I went to Florence with my program 2 weeks ago and my mother and I came back this weekend - 2 very different, very nice experiences! 

With my program, I woke up at 5:45am to catch a bus to the bus we were taking to Florence. We arrived around 11:30am and immediately discovered the chocolate fair in Piazza Repubblica.  What a treat! After sufficient samplings, my friends and I went to Gusta Pizza.  They made us fresh brick-oven heart-shaped pizzas - it was the weekend after Valentines Day.  Best pizza I think I have ever had.  After lunch, we went on a walking tour around Florence, stopping along the way to take pictures touching a pig snout so we will return to Florence (or so the legend says...) before shopping in the leather market. 

Legend says if you touch the pig's snout, you will return to Florence

That night, my roommates and I, along with one third of the group, went to a cooking lesson! We made an appetizer - melensagna caprese (eggplant, tomato, mozzarella, basil), homemade fettuccine with a meat and vegetarian sauces, and tirramisu for dessert. 

The next day, I met up with Rebecca Elbaum and Jess Powers and visited the Pitti Palace and gardens.  I ate breakfast quickly and noticed that I was the only person awake at the terribly "early" hour of 9:45am.  It was so great to see my Cornell peeps!  Later, I rejoined friends from my program and climbed the Duomo for AWESOME views of Florence's red rooftops, enjoyed scrumptious gelato (Grom uses local ingredients), went to Piazza Michaelangelo for a differet beautiful view of Florence, and returned the chocolate fair and leather market.  Heaven.

We ended the trip with a stop at Pisa which was disappointing besides for taking corny pictures with the leaning tower. The rainy weather didn't help. 

And look at that, I did!

With my mother, I saw less Florentine night life and less chocolate (the chocolate fair was over).  We traveled at a much more reasonable hour on a train (my first European train) and stayed at the cutest hotel - Hotel Davanzati.  The place isn't fancy but the employees are so friendly.  To save paper, they don't have newspapers in the lobby.  Instead, they have iPads you can borrow! The rooms contain white sound machines just in case the noises from the heart of Florence (or the room next door) are disruptive. 

After checking in, we went to the Ferragamo museum, which had a cool shoe display but wasn't much to see.  Then, we walked around Florence, enjoying the charm and relative quiet compared to the bustling Rome.  We got gelato (from Grom, of course), prepurchased museum tickets for shabbas and returned to the hotel for happy hour.  We went to La Giostra for dinner, an unsolicited recommendation from my roommate, Stef.  Unsolicited restaurant recomendations are my favorite because you know there is something special about the place if someone spontaneously told you to go.  My theory was supported - it was an incredible dinner!

Friday, we went for a run and then took on the leather market.  We were very successful and I walked away with my belated chanukah present - a beautiful leather jacket! Thanks Mom and Dad! Afterwards, we went to the food market and bought food for our shabbat lunch picnic. All before returning to my favorite Gusta Pizza for lunch.  There was a huge line when we got there, which follows my Dad's theory that the crowds generally know the best place to go. Our heart-shaped pizzas (as per my request) were well worth the wait! We even made some friends with the strangers they sat us a table with. 

So while we are eating, a man comes in carrying a display of junky-looking watches.  He goes over to a guy sitting near us and offers him a watch he didn't want for....drumroll please.... 120 Euro!!! What a business model! I found this episode hilarious but picturing me in hysterics might be funnier then the retelling of this incident.  :)

Later, we enjoyed happy hour at the hotel before going to the Synagogue for Kabalat Shabbat (Friday night services).  The Synagogue was absolutely stunning.  The massive Synagogue was filled with only 30 pray-ers (most of whom were tourists), something my mother and I both found incredibly sad. Seeing the shul and imagining how lively and full the community must have been before the Holocaust was a powerful reminder of the damage done to our People.

After dinner, we went to chabad for dinner and sat next to the coolest couple!   He is a lawyer and US soldier and she is a doctor in Iran who now works as a medical consultant in DC.  They were so interesting and we spent the walk home afterwards analzying our conversation with them and trying to figure them out.

The next morning, we started with a morning run along the river.  We went to the Ufizi. We saw so much but there was no end to the art we could have seen! We went back to the hotel and enjoyed our picnic lunch from the market and a little siesta, or shabbas nap. Then, we went to the Academia to see Michaelangelo's famous and impressive statue of David! It was no letdown.  The 17-foot statue is so lifelike that its hard to imagine that Michaelangelo freehand carved it from a single slab of marble.  That man was goooood! Later, we took advantage of the beautiful weather and hiked up to Piazzale Michaelangeo for beautiful views of Florence. 


Unforunately, the day had to come to an end and after catching happy hour, my mom returned to Rome for her flight home.