Going to Florence with the class yesterday was a bit like a marathon. We had a lot of distance to cover, and we were racing through it all. Most importantly, I saw the Renaissance Man.
Our first stop, and the most important stop of the day, was the Accademia. If that doesn’t mean anything to you, I’ll kulture you. It’s home to Michelangelo’s David. THE DAVID. It was incredible to see the statue in person. Nearly 17 feet tall, and Michelangelo did it when he was in his twenty’s. I hope I can accomplish something that great in the next ten years.
His name is David.
Lunch takes the cake for the biggest adventure of the day. As we were walking around as a class before our lunch break, Caroline and I decided on a Rick Steves restaurant. He has yet to steer us wrong when it comes to food, so we were really looking forward to this lunch. I had it circled on the map and was ready to explore.
Now sometimes the Rick Steves restaurants are difficult to find because he uses a hand drawn map. Once the break started, we gathered the rest of the group and then the six of us were off to find the restaurant. I warned everyone at the beginning (as I usually do) that it might be difficult to find but I’m not stopping until I get there…and if anyone doesn’t feel like looking, they can leave now.
Well, being deprived of food since breakfast at 6 am is not a good start to an adventure. When looking for the restaurant, there were plenty of groans about whether we should keep looking. I just reminded everyone that they do not have to continue on the journey. Feel free to breakaway and eat on your own.
After a while of searching and a couple wrong turns, we finally found Trattoria Mario’s. It was quite the hole-in-the-wall, with handwritten menu on the door and a single crowded room. We put our name on the list for six and waited.
Realizing that the restaurant wasn’t going to clear up anytime soon, the waitress comes to me with a question, in very rough English. “Uh, first time here downstairs? Downstairs before? Been here?” I answered no, thinking that was probably the right answer. She replied, “Uh, downstairs little different. Uh…like home. Come. I show you.”
So we all followed this lady downstairs to figure out what the hell she’s talking about. She takes us to a room with three tables set up; two of them already filled with serious Italian locals. The room was filled with boxes of wine and extra supplies and also meat hanging from the ceiling. If it meant eating, we were in. So we took the table.
The other two tables cleared out within five minutes of us sitting down, and we had the downstairs to ourselves. The food turned out to be FABULOUS. The service was great, and everyone agreed that it was one of the best meals we’ve had in Italy. We felt like locals. After getting some food in our tummies, we were all happy with the lunch choice.
What a success. We also got some photos of the great meal.
After lunch was a whirlwind tour of the Santa Maria Novella church, a run by Orsanmichele, and then a sprint across the Ponte Vecchio.
What a day.
