Welcome to Florence

Atop the bell tower

When Dad and Bethany arrived two weeks ago, I was very focused on sharing the food with them.  So the fabulous time I spent with them will be recorded according to our meals.
Day #1

Eating lampredotto

Lunch:  Lampredotto and vino rosso.  One of the most notable buildings in Florence is the Duomo, so on our way to lunch, we had to stop for pictures and ended up climbing the bell tower.  After more than 400 stairs, we were ready for lunch so I led them to a local sandwich truck where they followed my advice and tried a panino al lampredotto.  This is one of my favorite sandwiches, it's very traditionally Florentine and hard to find elsewhere in Italy, so I was glad they took the risk to try it.  Lampredotto is cow stomach.
Desert:  I gave them a walking tour of Florence and we went to Santa Croce, Ponte Vecchio, all the usual spots, and we stopped at the wonderful Gelateria di Neri for gelato, cannoli, and profiteroles.
Aperitivo:

Piazzale Michelangelo

We made a long hike up to Piazzale Michaelangelo to have one of the best views of Florence.  On our way back down the hill, we stopped in a wine bar.  Along with our wine came incredibly thinly sliced toast drizzled with olive oil.  It was still too early for dinner, so we stopped along the way to ride a carousel in Piazza della Repubblica that I have been wanting to ride all semester.

Carousel

Dinner:  For dinner, we went to a restaurant that I've been to a few times before, Il Teatro.  We started with a tray of Tuscan appetizers like crostini, bruschetta, prosciutto, etc.  We enjoyed shrimp scampi, gnocchi, beans, meat balls, sausage, followed by some limoncello and bed.
Day #2
Coffee:  After attending Friday morning Mass at the beautiful Duomo, we went to an elegant cafe nearby for espresso, cafe americano, and a delicious sort of turnover filled with ricotta cheese.
Lunch:  Next we explored the Mercato di San Lorenzo, also known as the leather market, where vendors sell jackets, scarfs, purses, souvenirs, etc.  Dad was quickly wooed by a salesman encouraging him to upgrade his 20 year old leather coat.  Before leaving the shop, we each sported new Italian leather jackets.  Tired from out shopping spree, we found a very local spot for panini that Grammy and Grampy showed me when they were there.  Tuna, onion, tomato, mozzarella for me, and prosciutto, mozzarella, and tomato for Dad and Bethany.  Then Dad and I did a tour of the beautiful Medici apartments in Palazzo Pitti.
Wine Tasting:  Later in the afternoon, we went to a wine tasting that I had done with one of my professors.  The man who conducts the tastings, Pino, is the owner of a great deli, a wine connoisseur, and a Mario lookalike.  Before wine was poured, we sampled different balsamic vinagrettes and olive oil with bread and parmigiana, and learned about how they make such goods.  Then we moved on to the wines, learning the history and how they are made today.  We tasted a white and two different Chiantis alongside three different hams.  I was very happy to have Dad and Bethany there because it gave such a great view of Italian cuisine and the love for the products they use.
Dinner:  We power walked from the wine tasting to make our reservation at La Giostra.  This was the best meal I have had in Italy.  First we were served complimentary sparkling wine and typical Tuscan appetizers.  Then came our first courses.  Bethany had the best shrimp scampi I have ever tasted, Dad enjoyed a classic Ribolitta which I have made in my cooking class but his was better, and I had pear and pecorino cheese raviolis.  All the pasta was homemade and we were blown away by the food.  Next came something I had been wanting to try all semester, Bistecca alla Fiorentina.  It's a steak kind of like a porterhouse that is grilled only for 5 minutes on each side and standing up.  I'm not usually one to eat meat that isn't well done, but after realizing that I had eaten raw sausage a few weeks prior, I was ready to try anything.  And this was the best piece of meat I have ever had, ever.  Although Dad's baby back ribs are a close second.

Aboard the gondola

Day #3
Lunch:  After a bit of a train ride, we arrived in Venice on Friday, hungry for seafood.  We rode around on a water taxi for a while until we found a place that looked less touristy.  We sat in the sunshine by the canal and enjoyed seafood soups, pasta and clams, and seafood crepes.  We spent the rest of the day exploring the city, we saw the beautiful St. Mark's, and took a gondola ride.  Venice was such a unique city and was beautiful on such a sunny weekend.
Dinner:  We made a stop in a beautiful ritzy hotel along the canal for a glass of wine and to warm up a bit once the sun fell.  They had a lot of guidebooks, so we looked for the perfect restaurant.  And we found it.  It was deep into the residential area of the city where it was barely lighted.  Just as we started to think the guidebook lied to us, we stumbled upon the restaurant.  Our charismatic waiter urged us to get the chef's special which is three courses prepared according to what was best at the market that day.  So we followed his suggestion and enjoyed wonderful clams, mystery shrimp, tuna with a saffron and persimmons sauce, and a desert of chestnut mousse with a pastry.  It was so fantastic, everything was bursting with natural flavors.  The choices were so out of the ordinary, I never would have thought to order them otherwise.
Day #4
Breakfast: Let's just say we had a feast for breakfast full of prosciutto, salami, yogurts, pastries, and more at the hotel. Full and ready for the day, we went into Venice planning to go to the island of Murano to see the famous glass making.  Unfortunately, the water level was too high and we did not have time to get there.  Instead we relaxed on the water taxis and casually strolled the streets of Venice.
Lunch: Before the train to Venice, we grabbed a quick meal of pasta and clams, raviolis, and soup.
Dinner: We got to Milan when it was dark and rainy, so once we got to the hotel, we decided to make it an early night.  We went for a light aperitivo and then Bethany and I got grilled eggplant with buffalo mozzarella.
Day #5

Milan Cathedral

Breakfast: Another large hotel buffet early in the morning.  Dad and Bethany made their way to the airport and I explored Milan for a while, going to the cathedral and the designer stores.  It was great to see the cathedral because I had written a paper about it last year, but other than that, Milan was so spread out that I found it difficult to entertain myself.  Also, I was sad to see Dad and Bethany leave, we had such a great time.  I loved being able to show them my life here and teaching them everything that I have learned.