Thursday was also full of many things! I think thats going to be the trend. I woke up to my goofy cell phone alarm that talks in a british accent. After getting a coffee and croissant at our new regular cafe, we left for a class taught by a really nice Italian woman who works at Apicius (the culinary school). She went over all different types of food and we got to try it all. We learned how to tell if a cheese is aged or young, etc. It was very interesting. She taught us all we had to know about basic italian foods.Carmen and I walked all over the place between that class and our next thing. We did a lot of shopping! So far I've gotten a leather jacket (gasp), a leather side purse thing, 2 glasses for my new home, a cashmere scarf, and a wine stopper! I think thats it. During our break, we also got REALLY YUMMY sandwiches at a store near the school. Mozzarella, basil and tomato!!!!
After our break, we met at the school to go on a walking tour throughout the town led by teachers. We stopped at all kinds of shops where they had set up free tastings! My group of girls was led by this outrageously good looking guy who was super fashionable. He is a chef at Apicius. We went to a little wine bar where we got Prosecca and truffle sandwiches! So good. Then we went to a small grocery store that he said sold some of the best stuff in Florence! There was tons of food, local stuff, wine and coffee. It was so interesting. He then took us to the most central shopping area of florence to show us all the high brand stores and he showed us Dolce, Armani, and Cavalli's houses. This wasnt planned but he loved to tell us all his knowledge on the fashion on Florence. He is probably very gay, but the girls in my group would do anything to get into those skin tight armani jeans.
Our last stop was a huge wine shop where we tasted different wines and got to explore their cellar. There were literally hundreds of wines. So interesting and pretty. By the time we were done, we were exhausted. Not only did Carmen and I go to a class on the other side of Florence, we walked around town for 2 1/2 hours between and then walked for 2-3 hours for the tour! Ah!We went home and sat around for a bit, then went out to dinner with our roommate Jacqueline and her boyfriend Justin. We found a little restaurant across from a huge museum near by. I ordered steak medium and it came back so rare. It was delicious, though. So I did not mind. Carmen ordered Peposo which we had JUST learned about that day. Beef cooked in pepper, wine, onions, etc. for 5 hours. It was delicious, I had a bite.
5/21Friday started early once again. We headed to the Accademia Gallery at 9 AM. This museum is in Florence, about a 20 minute walk from our apartment. It has many sculptures/paintings, but MOST IMPORTANTLY, Michelangelo's David. Unfortunately, absolutely no cameras were allowed to be used in the museum, so we have no proof we saw David. The sculpture was MASSIVE. I could not believe a human being made it. The museum itself was surprisingly small, but very interesting. After we were done at the museum, we once again had a break between things. Of course, we went out and shopped again. In the afternoon, we went back to the school building to learn how to pair the right wines with food. It was SO interesting and we were served pastas and all kinds of wine in order to find the perfect match! I'm pretty sure I'm going to come back from this trip as a complete win-o. After the class was over, we decided to explore an end of town we had never been to before. It was much less touristy and seemed more local. We found TONS of cute shops and bought hand made chocolates. It was really cool. We even saw italian teens hanging out together outside of a movie theatre. Just like in the US. I guess teens are the same everywhere.
We finally went out to eat at 1030 pm. This actually isnt that late for Italians. We went to a place right around the corner where we got FREE champagne and ordered white wine. I had the best gnocchi of my life. It is definitely one of my new favorites.
"I want a spotted dog, because I love cows."-Carmen
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