An early A.M., Art, and the Accademia
Today, we got up early and walked to the train station for our tour at the Accademia. We left the apartment at 8:00 a.m. and headed out to meet up with our tour group and guide. Our guide's name was Elisa and she had the best personality. She was so fun and bubbly but also very engaging and clearly knew what she was talking about.
When we arrived at the train station, we were given these stickes that read "AM1" and yellow radios to wear around our necks. The radios were pre-set to channel 39 so we could hear what Elisa had to say about each stop we made. We took a huge Trolley Tours type bus to the top of the city where we had a panoramic view from Piazzale Michelangelo. We wove our way through traffic, past Ponte Vecchio, into the more expensive district of the city. This part of town had much more greenery; it is also where the wealthy live and it was clear that this section of the town was designated for those who could afford that kind of lifestyle.
Next, we went to the Accademia of Arts where Michelangelo taught his students. This was fun, and I think I appreciated the artwork more because of the research and studying we had done prior to the trip. The most iconic and notable part of the tour was probably seeing the David. Although it wasn't the real deal, it was breathtaking. Standing at 6 tons, it was huge! I can't even imagine trying to manuaver that much marble into such a spectactular creation.
After the first part of the tour, we had the chance to grab lunch. Pascoe wasn't with us at this time because he was helping another student with a medical issue so we walked with Leslie, his fiancé, and found a cute little mom and pop place to sit down and eat. I ordered Gnocchi al Pesto and it was literally just pasta with pesto. I expected it to be more interesting having read the description on the menu, but it was still quite good. It was much simpler than I expected the dish to be, but I should have known better after researching that Italian cooking is known for its ease and simplicity.
Once we finished lunch, we had some time to kill before we had to go to our next event scheduled- the Uffizi portion of the tour. We had until 3:45 before we had to meet up again so Paige and I decided to walk around and shop! The others went home to change because Pascoe told us to wear pants and something covering our shoulders just to be safe since we would be walking into some more conservative spaces. Unfortunately when it was time to head back for the Uffizi part of the tour, we were informed that there was a scheduling issue...that it had been messed up and incorrectly booked. This meant that we would have to reschedule and that we had the rest of the day to explore.
Paige, Gabbie, and I ended up wandering over to Ponte Vecchio while others went in search for a place to sit and rest. On our walk around, we ended up stopping at Gilli's and treating ourselves to yummy desserts. I had a tiramisu cake and it was perfect bliss! It exceeded every expectation and beyond as it was perfectly cakey with the right proportion of cognac in the base of the cake. There was also enough cream but not an overwhelming amount. The ratio of ingredients for each bite was seriously the best thing I've had.
Finally, towards the end of the evening, we made our way back into town after shopping all afternoon. By this time, it was just Paige and myself touristing around. We made our way to this little restaurant called I'daviddino. It was surprisingly really good. We were first lured in by the advertisement of outside garden seating. We hadn't seen this before and it definitely caught our eye so we went for it. The host led us into like 3 different rooms before we got to the back of the restaurant and found where we would be sitting. There were maybe 10 tables in the garden area but the rooms we passed through seemed huge in comparison. It was quaint and quiet when we went, but I can only imagine how crowded the place would have been if we had gone at a more regular dining time.
We ended up splitting a charcuterie board with an assortment of cheeses, meats, and spreads. On it was a ham loaf, prosciutto, pepperoni, gouda, brie, and a variety of breads with unique spreads (pâté, tomato, and olive oil). After an eventful day, this was a nice and relaxing way to end the evening.
