Day 11 - First Day In Florence

‍At around 3 am John's phone rang and it was the aides from Merica House where Matt lives called to let us know that Matt was running a fever. John suggested they give him aspirin or Tylenol. He also told them that we were in Italy and 6 hours ahead of them, but to call us if the situation got worse (not that we thought it would.

After breakfast, we enjoyed a wonderful lecture on At and History by Elaine Ruffolo, an Art History expert. Her specialty was Economic Art History and she teaches at the Syracuse University in Florence.

After the lecture, we met our guides and walked to the Accademia to see Michael Angelo's sculpture of David (among other statues).  After seeing the David statue, our guide took us to the Duomo and then to the Piazza della Repubblica.  Then we had free time to explore on our own.  We decided to get lunch first and we went to the Yellow Bar.   Prior to being seated, they showed us where their homemade pasta is made.  I had their pasta stuffed with ricotta and spinach. It was wonderful.  And I had my first Italian beer - Toscana.  John had a pizza with ham and Tonic water.

Our plan was to visit the Galileo Museum and the Cathedral Museum after lunch.  However, both Museums were closed on Tuesdays.  So instead we wandered around for a while and then gathered up our dirty laundry and found a nearby self-serve laundromat.  To kill some time and to get change, I found a little shop where I could get fresh squeezed orange juice (squeezed while I watched).  Once our clothes were did, we returned to the hotel to shower and change for dinner.

Dinner was at Restaurant Paoli, a medieval restaurant, where we enjoyed a typical Tuscan dinner.  We could again select three courses.  I decided to forego pasta since I had had it for lunch and instead chose a "vegetable pie" that was more like spinach torte with no crust for my first course.   For my second course, I selected the beef filet with a balsamic and mustard sauce.  It was delicious and very tender.  For the third course I selected dessert from the dessert cart.  The best part of the dessert was that I could get small pieces of more than one of the dessert.  I selected the chocolate balls that were like round Nepolians in a chocolate sauce and I selected a custard torte.  Both were wonderful.   And of course there was plenty of wine (everyone at our table had the white one - although all of us had either beef or pork).  

We returned to our hotel around 9:30 pm. I read for a while and then turned in.Read more