The "Amazing Race"
Today we all pretty much slept in. Originally, the game plan was to get up early, grab some coffee, and roam around. Instead, we didn't get out of bed until 11:00 am. Paige and I went to Conad, a small little market/ grocery store down the street, near the Duomo, and grabbed some toilet paper for the apartment and fruit for breakfast. It was really quite fun just to watch people pass by and listen to an accordionist next to us. Little did we know that this would become our go to store in Florence. We ended up going to the smaller location but right down the road was a more typical, larger sized Conad. We sat outside and ate our fruit and then headed back to the apartment to meet up with the gang and hear what Pascoe's plans were for the day.
Around noon, Pascoe was at our apartment and gave us our reimbursement money from purchasing our plane tickets and presented us with a scavenger hunt. It was three pages worth of scenic places that we would have to locate and take pictures next to. For example, one of the tasks was to locate the Ponte Vecchio Bridge and find out what it is best known for. Another example was to take a picture shaking a stranger's hand next to the Statue of Dante in Piazza di Santa Croce. We would break off into groups of three and there would be a prize for the top three winners. The winners would be chosen based on quality of pictures taken and thoughtfulness taken into consideration for answering the questions given, not solely on time alone.
Once we divided up into our groups and were given the materials we needed for the project, we all headed off for lunch at All'antico Vinaio. It's a famous panini place in Florence that became so popular that they had to branch off and create another location. One is run by the father and is the dine-in, sit- down, restaurant style eatery, whereas the one across the street is run by the sons as a grab and go, tiny store that basically consisted of a refrigerator case and a small assembly line of 3-4 men behind it. I think there were two tables that you could perch by and wait for your sandwich but besides that you didn't see anyone waiting around to chat.
The line was fairly long but the guys making the paninis were whipping them up really quick because the line wasn't a disastrously long wait. Additionally, the ingredients that are used to create the sandwiches are all fresh which was pretty impressive seeing that it was about 5 euros for a panini the size of my head! You had the option of choosing your own meat, a spread, and vegetable. Meats included: ham, salami, prosciutto and a few more while some of the spreads you could pair with your meat included a truffle cream, artichoke spread, dry tomatoes, and more. Then, the cheeses you had to choose from included: pecorino, their house cream cheese, a smoked cheese, and more. Finally, the vegetables you had your choice of included arugula, tomatoes, eggplant, basil, and more.
I didn't know what to choose so I told the guys behind the counter just to surprise me! I felt like I couldn't go wrong with any of the ingredients mixed together and I trusted their taste so I figured why not. My panini ended up having prosciutto, arugula, artichoke cream, and I couldn't tell what cheese-- it was mild. When we finished eating, it was time to hit the streets and began to conquer "The Amazing Race" scavenger hunt.
During the long scavenger hunt, we decided to take a couple of breaks. One was for gelato after we'd been searching for the Statue of David for like an hour and the other was right as we thought it was about to rain. For gelato, we sat at a square by the Florence School of Art and then, when we thought it was going to rain, we sat at a little restaurant and ordered a few drinks. I had mango gelato to cool down after walking around and later an orange spritz that was really refreshing!
After a long day of wandering around the city, we all worked up an appetite. For dinner, we went to this pizza place called Divina Pizza. This sweet, petite, little Italian woman was so passionate and excited about our arrival and being able to serve us her food. It was quite the treat as she brought out 7 different pizzas for us to eat!
1. Tomato, oregano, and fresh garlic
2. Margarita pizza with fresh tomato sauce and fresh mozzarella
3. Onion (sautéed in wine) with organic gorgonzola
4. Sausage and mozzarella
5. Ham and cheese on a sesame seed flatbread
6. A surprise chef special- carrot mixture on top with salami and fennel inside
7. Salted cod with onions and capers on flatbread
They pizzas were all incredibly fresh and you could tell since all the ingredients were unprocessed. The flavors were bold but in a good way and each pizza was very simple where each ingredient had the opportunity to be tasted equally. My favorite was probably the surprise pizza she brought out with a carrot purée with salami and fennel.
Dessert was not had after that ginormous meal, but we did end up going out on the town. We went to this place called the Atlantic for a couple of drinks and a good time. I had a the typical cosmo and a sex on the beach flavored shot. It was a much needed outing after a long and busy day!
