Florence

We took the train from Rome to Florence, then walked from the station to B&B Firenze Cittadella 8. At check-in, the owner spent a few minutes mapping out the city for us.

The food tour that evening included meats and cheeses, pasta, wine, a wine window, and Florentine steak. The steak was good, but I’ve had better. I enjoyed the tour as a whole, although it was slightly below the Rome one.

This was mostly an exploration day. We skipped the Medici Chapels and did not go inside either church. We wandered for a while, then went back to the hotel during the hottest part of the day, which became fairly common during the trip.

Later, we went to Piazzale Michelangelo. It was awesome, but crowded. A large tree partially blocked the view from where we were sitting, although it did not really detract from it.

By Florence, the museums were starting to run together. Jordyn described the problem well: objects can lose the purpose they originally served when they are put behind glass, like displaying ordinary dishes. After the Vatican’s visual overload, we pared Florence down to the Accademia, Uffizi, and a short Bargello visit.

David was my favorite part of the Accademia. We also went through the musical-instrument gallery, where Jordyn liked the hurdy-gurdy. We skipped most of the rest.

I liked the statues at the Bargello, but by then we were saturated with museums. A short visit was enough.

After learning that the leather market was now saturated with low-quality products, we went to Benheart instead. I found a wallet, and Jordyn bought a jacket after some convincing.

The Uffizi was good, but overwhelming. No artist besides Caravaggio left a distinct impression. His Medusa caused a visceral reaction, which was probably the point of the piece.

Jordyn and I narrated and laughed at some of the other paintings, which made the museum more enjoyable. We also picked up cat versions of Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci as magnets for my sisters-in-law.

The Tuscan-farm cooking class that evening was much more hands-on. “Spank the baby” is a phrase we learned during the process because the instructors called the little dough balls babies. We named ours Dylan and Luna.

I volunteered to help make the sauce. My basil was uniformly shredded, but it took longer than everyone else’s, which made Jordyn laugh.

Pizza dough takes two days to make, so they had pieces prepared at different stages to show us the whole process. We chose our own toppings and tried things I would not normally put on pizza, including zucchini. All of the toppings worked. The pizza’s structural integrity did not.

We made the gelato there too.