A Return to Florence

We took the high speed train after work on a Friday from Milan to Florence. After trying five different ticket machines at the station, we finally were able to procure out tickets. I can't imagine how difficult some situations are for less experienced travelers when they are difficult for us. That is not meant to sound snobby. It's just that we travel a heck of a lot and are pretty savvy. When things are not intuitive for people who are very seasoned travelers, I just don't know how others handle it who are less accustomed to traveling to new place. It was a brisk hour and forty-five minute journey. We'd both been working a ton and instead of going somewhere new, we thought it would be nice and relaxing to go to a city to which we'd been before so that we could just take it easy and not be stressed with doing tourist things.

WIA:
We relied on a recommendation from the New York Times for dinner on Friday night. It was a mistake. The place had been closed for 8 months. It was late though and we needed to eat, so we ended up eating at Obika Mozzarella Bar, which we also ate at in Milan. It was as mediocre as before, but the mozzarella was good.

I know it seems ridiculous to come to Florence and eat a hamburger, but that is what we did for lunch on Saturday at Lungarno 23. We didn't regret it. Italy is known for the Chianina breed of cattle and for the beef that they are bred for. These were the most expensive burgers we've ever had, mine being 25 EUR and Jenn's 18 EUR I think, but they were worth it. Mine had a fried egg and truffles on top. Jenn's had mozzarella cheese. It is hard to say if we liked them so much because we hadn't had a good burger in a while or if they were really that good. We didn't analyze it much (a change for me) and just enjoyed the moment.

Dinner was with Jenn's friend from law school, Angelica, and her husband Justin. They live in Florence for her job as an internal attorney for one of GE's subsidiaries. We ate at a wine bar, Coquinarius, conveniently located in the city center, not far from the Duomo. We know nothing about wine, but the Angelica and Justin do and what we had was pretty good. It was a really fun evening.

On Sunday, we met them again for lunch at a place in Fie Sole, where they live. I have no idea what the place was called, but it had a very comfortable home cooking feel to it. Jenn and I picked up sandwiches in the center from Ino to take with us on the train to eat later for dinner. They were fine, but I personally think the place is a little overrated. Maybe we had to eat there. Our last stop before getting on the train was at Grom for gelato. We needed to see what all the fuss was about. We almost missed our train due to the long line to get in, but we didn't and we got our gelato, so everything worked out just fine.

WID:
We really didn't do much. We'd been to all the major sights, so we just walked around the city, did a little shopping, and that's about it. It was actually really nice. We always say it's nice to go back to a city we've already visited because then we can just walk around and enjoy the city for what it is. I will say, we forget when we're Bratislava how many American tourists there are in Europe. Florence reminded us. We couldn't walk 10 feet without seeing or hearing Americans. 

WIS:
We stayed at a little hotel near the Academia called Il Guelfo Bianco. It was pretty simple, but it was clean and comfortable. The location was perfect, about a 5 minute walk to the Duomo.

WAM:
On the train ride from Milan, we watched "Crazy, Stupid, Love" on my laptop. The first hour or so of the movie was really good. We both laughed and found it overall very entertaining. All the actors are good in it and the writing (again, for the first hour) is sharp and clever. Then the wheels came off. The second half of the movie spiraled way out of control into absurdity, exaggeration, and outright stupidity. It was disappointing since all had been going so well up to that point. I understand why they included the whole storyline with Steve Carrell's and Julianne Moore's son in the movie, but I really think they could have taken it (and him) out or made it a much smaller part of the movie, and everything would have worked a lot better.

WTF:
We walked through the city on Saturday and browsed through a lot of shops. We walked through the Prada store (just to check it out) and why Jenn was looking at shoes, I wondered through the store and ended up in the men's section, where I saw a winter jacket I liked. I tried it on (knowing no good could come of it). It was a perfect fit. It felt great. It was warm, comfortable, and I'll admit, it just felt good wearing it. I didn't want to (I really didn't), but I loved it. Jenn walked over and saw me in it and loved it also. The saleswoman liked it on me, and even though I know she has to say that, it at least seemed genuine (or maybe I just wanted it to be). I hadn't looked at the price tag up to this point and when I did, it was even worse than what I thought it would be. It was way too much to spend for an article of clothing. Or was it? Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately), I'm not a quick decision maker. I am analytical and need time to weigh the pros and cons and assess the entire situation before deciding on something. This works out for me sometimes for big decisions, but at other times, like choosing a movie to watch or what to order from a menu, it can be annoying. If I were more impulsive (like my brother), I would have bought the jacket right there and called it a day. In thinking about it now, is there a price one can put on warmth, especially when one lives in Slovakia and will be traveling to Russia for work possibly more than once? Maybe, maybe not. I'm not sure the price of the jacket would even cross my mind once I was walking through Red Square in Moscow with the wind chill of no concern. Being cold sucks. In the end, I just don't think I could walk around in a Prada jacket. I'm just not that guy (I don't think). I do have warm jackets, but since I experienced my first winter last year and am about to start my second, I realize I need something warmer than what I have. I may or may not find something, but the problem now is that I compare everything to the benchmark in my mind, the Prada jacket, and nothing else is good enough. I knew nothing good was going to come of trying on that jacket.