Vino, Antipasto, and Formaggio

Let me just start by saying that at first I thought I was going to call this post "Gretchen and Steve's Guide to DOING Florence in Three Days" because, despite the fact that it just about impossible to do everything there is to do and see everything there is to see in Florence, my aunt Gretchen and uncle Steve came damn close to doing just that. Why not call it that? Why this silly title about wine and appetizers and cheese? Just wait...















Thursday started off a normal day for me with a test at 8:30am [yuck] but it was given by my beautiful 'Basic Conversational Italian' teacher, so I didn't mind that bad. Then some 'Sketching and Drawing' at 10:30am. Then an incredibly boring 'Urban Design 101' lecture followed by Studio. But it was some time during the incredibly boring Urban Design lecture that somthing not so usual for this semester abroad happened. It was at this time that Steve and Gretchen arrived in Florence and gave me a call letting me know that they were in and were going to rest at the hotel for a while until I got out of class.

That's the funny thing about "taking a rest" after a flight half way across the world [traveling through six different time zones against Time]. The jet lag is killer and there is no such thing as "just a rest". This is the same for everyone and it was no different for Gretchen and Steve, and will be no different for you if you decide to make the trip. So "just a rest" turned into a full fledged nap, which worked out well because I had Studio till 6pm anyway. So at that time, I met up with them, showed them my previously-mentioned-pimp-as-fuck apartment, and made our way to a small Italian restaurant that my friends and I frequent.

This is where the title "Vino, Antipasto, and Formaggio" comes into play. As some of you know, many of you will learn, and some will just have to take my word, Gretchen and Steve love wine and appetizers! Now, I know what many of you are thinking, "whoopty shit, I love Conti, potato skins, and cheese sticks as much as the next person." So allow me to rephrase...Gretch and Steve LOVE WINE AND APPETIZERS! Not just love, they truly enjoy and experience them more than the average person. When going out to eat with them, no matter it be in J-town, Chicago, or Florence [especially Florence], you can count on wine and at least two appetizers [or antipasto in Italia]. And I'm going to admit it, they've convinced me that this is the way to go. Even the Italians have perfected this. When you look at a menu here, there are Antipasto's, Prima Pastas, Seconda Entres, Pizza, Deserts, Cocktails, and of course VINO! Maybe the rest of us could take a little advice from the Italians and Gretchen and Steve and consider some antipasto and a few glasses a vino over some nice conversation before a meal, rather than wolfing down three double cheeseburgers or playing slap the bag with a box of Franzea [which I shamefully admitted to doing to my aunt and uncle while truly enjoying my first glass of expensive white wine].
















I also decided to make another exception from the =Birra of the Blog= again, this time for Gretch and Steve. Don't get used to this though...I am still a "Beer Guy" at heart.

=Vino alla Blog=

Like I said, I really still enjoy beer as my favorite alcohol, but I had the opportunity [through Steve and Gretch, of course] to try a totally new type of wine that I felt some of you Franzea chuggers should be introduced to. Its called Prosecco and it is said to have been created back in Roman times. Its a sparkling dry white wine commonly mistaken for Champagne, despite the European laws [that right...Europe is so anal about their wines that they have laws for them] saying only sparkling white wines from the area of France known as Champagne can be called champagne. Any way it is extremely good and if you can divvy up the dough I suggest you try it. I thank Gretchen for having me experience this one [amongst numerous others...thanx Gretch].

So we would all watch and laugh as Steve would order an antipasto and when the waitress would move her attention on to the next person at the table, Steve would still be ordering a second. Or even more when he, like any other non-Italian speaking visitor, would simply point to the mezzo-litre [half liter] of wine he didn't even want to try to pronounce, then quickly reconsider, and point to the full liter instead. Eventually he earned the nickname Bacchus [the Roman god of Wine] from us, after seeing a sculpture of him in the Bargello Museum.
















Which brings me to the most astonishing thing about their weekend here [no, it was not the amount of wine we drank or appetizers we ate]. It was the amount of stuff Steve and Gretch were able to see and cram into only three short days in Florence. They started out there visit with a morning walking tour around the city, which in my opinion, is one of the best ways to get a basic history of the city and see all the major sites at a glance. We then climbed to the top of Brunelleschi's Duomo, which should be numero uno on anyone's list of things to do if visiting Florence. And over the next few days hit up all three of the major Florence art museums [The Uffitzi, The Academia, and The Bargello], shopped on the Ponte Vecchio, visited Santa Croce [my favorite church in Florence], purchased souvenirs for their girls [my cousins Avery and Myla] and for themselves, and climbed the hillside to Piazza Michelangelo to the monastery I mentioned in my second post with the astounding view. All that and so many smaller things that I'm sure Gretch and/or Steve could tell you about if you ever have the chance to talk to them about their visit.








Overall, I would say there was an nice trading of experiences going on between all of us. Because of my education and experiences I've gained over the past month here, I was able to provide my visiting family with my sense of direction, my broken Italian that is slowly but surely getting better, and my list of don't do's, do do's, must do's and absolutely must do's in Florence. And in return they provided me with some of the best meals [including wines and appetizers] that I will eat while over-seas, the opportunity to experience some of the huge things that you slowly start to take for granted when living here [for example the top of the Duomo], and [best of all] the good feelings that you get when you get to spend time with those you love after not seeing familiar friends and family for a long time [although I can't even pretend I'm home sick yet...sorry Mom].

So I just want to say thank you Gretchen and Steve. Thanks for visiting, thanks for all the great meals, thanks for the extra spending cash, but most of all thank you for allowing me to share probably one of the greatest experiences of my life with you guys! Ciao till next time.