Since the day looked vaguely ominous, we both opted for jeans. Big mistake -- though not terribly hot, it was humid. Luckily we are from DC and are used to humid weather! Jennie took the lead and we launched our sweaty selves onto the city of Florence. Our apartment is located on the other side, the non-touristy side, of the river Arno, which is perfect because it means that we do not have to deal with the craziness of the city center but we are only a 10 min walk away! So we crossed over the bridge, and took a moment to look at the Pontevecchio. A brief history of the Pontevecchio: it's a bridge that has been around since the 13th century. Originally it housed exclusively butcher shops; you can still see the hooks for hanging animal carcasses. It was a carnivorous paradise until the 15th century when the Medici's changed it over to gold and silver shops. Apparently they were offended by the smell of the animal pelts, which were soaked in vats of urine (when reading this Jennie goes, "how did they even get vats of urine?") to cure the hides. And jewelry shops, selling gold and silver, still line the bridge today!
Jenn gave me the basic tour -- Pontevecchio, the city center, the Duomo. We both decided however, that we will have to wait to do the touristy things until probably the end of the month. It is still just too crazy with touristas here right now. Instead we tried to find the square where Jenn and her Mom stayed the last time they came to Florence; it proved a futile effort, but we did end up coming upon the Church of Santa Maria Novella. We paid the entrance fee (3.50) and entered into the Church. It was founded by the "Preaching Friars" in the 13th century, and had undergone three different renovations. It was very pretty and...church-like. Apparently, though we only found this out later, we saw the pulpit from which Galileo was denounced for heresy. I would love to tell you the impression this made on me, but unfortunately all the enclaves and such blur into one big mural of people in robes adorned with halos, and differentiation is difficult. By this time Jennie's blood sugar had begun to dip and was fading (we realized that we hadn't eaten in 21 hours!), so we went searching for that promised pizza.
The rest of the day was spent running errands and catching up on the internet (it had been two whole days and we were beginning to twitch). At night we went to find a trattoria serving aperitivo. This is traditionally a precursor to the dinner meal; you pay for the drinks and then there is usually a buffet which is free. However, we found this ADORABLE place where they do an aperitivo semi-untraditionally; the drinks are cocktails not wine, and they serve you your "meal" individually. We were planning on using the aperitivo as an appetizer to our meal we were going to make at home, but it was plentiful and DELICIOUS. On one plate contained some sort of green pea mousse, a fagioli type substance, brie, hot dogs and peas (strange), and fresh pasta with tomato sauce. We were smitten. The place is also super cute, with an almost American coffee shop type vibe; local art on the walls, books everywhere, mod type furniture. We decided that we will be visiting Cuculia on the regular.
Arrivederci babies! See you tomorrow, if I haven't been devoured by the mosquitos!
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