Florence – Day of Arrival

I arrive in Florence and make it across town to the hostel no problem. After I settle into my room, I decide that lunch and a nap are both in the near future. The hostel is not too far from Piazza San Spirito (where Rick recommends quite a few places) so it seemed like a good direction to head.

I choose a café and when the waiter comes by, I’m too tired to make a decision so I just ask for a panini. When he asks me what kind, I just tell him: Bring me your favorite. This ends up being a great idea as he returns with a toasty little sandwich on foccacia bread with some kind of meat and cheese. De-licious!

I head back to the hostel a happy camper and settle in for a nap. I wake up a few hours later and decide: time to eat again! So I take myself back to San Spirito (again, really into what is easy) and sit at a different trattoria. Even though I am alone, they seat me at a corner spot at a table for four. Hmmm, that’s interesting. I hope I don’t end up as the third wheel on a date. That would stink.

Oh well, can’t really control that – so I order the gnocci with a cheese sauce. I’ll just enjoy my food. Sure enough though, shortly after ordering the waiter brings two people over to share my table. Augh. Fortunately, it was a mother-adult daughter combo, but it was still a little strange. I mean, it’s hard to not listen to their conversation and watch their faces, even though I have no idea what they’re saying. They order so much more food than I do it makes me think, Man! People here either a) save up to eat out, b) make considerably more money than their American counterparts, or c) just spend more on food and are okay with it.

Whatever the case, I watch them share food and conversation and start to miss home a little bit. Fortunately my food arrives soon after and my plate of gnocci is so hot, I have no choice other than to simply look at it and breathe in its aroma for a while. (Which was an enjoyable few minutes, btw.) Immediately it reminds me of the homemade style macaroni and cheese from Pastazza (Kristen you would have loved it!).

When it finally cools, it’s good, but I discover it wasn’t really what I wanted. Bummer. Dinner, overall, has been a bust. On the way home, I hit up the grocery store next to the hostel and buy a small jar of Nutella to ease my pain. After a few (okay, several) spoonfuls of deliciousness, I feel MUCH better. I spend a little time in the common room with my computer and Rick Steves and soon realize, tomorrow is Sunday and most attractions are closed (as is the case on Monday), d’oh! Could’ve planned that a little better, but oh well. I guess I’ll spend tomorrow acquainting myself with the city, so come Tuesday – I’ll be ready!