Firenze

Our little apartment in Florence was so sweet - lots of historic touches like these brick windows in the stairwell that looked out onto Via dell'Albero.

Good to have something to stop and look at along the way up...did I mention there were 48 stairs? Steep, narrow, stairs? They led to the front door of our flat, which was a little short for my giant son.

During our rest day, we ordered food delivery (Deliveroo app) from a restaurant called Buca Nicollini, which specializes in Florentine and other Tuscan foods. We got the ubiquitous bistecca fiorentina - a T-bone steak, usually sourced from local chianina beef, grilled or seared and served rare. I am 99% sure that what came in the pizza box was not chianina beef, but it was good, and the potatoes were amazing. Hart loved the minestrone, and I loved the ribollita - the famous Tuscan soup thickened with bread - hearty and savory. We both loved the rectangles of firm polenta, fried crispy and topped with fegatini - chicken liver mousse.

The next day we ventured out to see the sights. First up - the Mercato Centrale, located right next door to the famed Mercato San Lorenzo - full of aggressive hawkers of leather goods. I made the fatal error of admiring a coat, and the salesman pounced...it was difficult to extricate myself from his compliments and rapidly declining price offers. The coat was gorgeous, but when you live someplace that has summer 9 months of the year, hard to justify the purchase.

White truffles were still in season, and I indulged at the Savini Tartufo stall in the Mercato Centrale food hall.

one of these may or may not have come home with me....

Sweet. Fancy. Moses.

Hart's truffle pasta and a cone of fritto misto - atrichoke, zuccini, eggplant, onion, rabbit, tripe and chicken.

After lunch, we walked toward the city center. Florence was still decked out in her holiday finery, and despite the crowds, it was charming.

After more amazing coffee, we headed over to the Museo Da Vinci. There are two - we went to the one on Via Cavour, which basically had working models of a ton of Da Vinci's inventions, with copies of his sketches and explanations posted by each. Really cool!

Rotisserie!

Some kind of early tank.

"The Gym"

It was a really fun museum, and we had a blast. When we left, we noticed an oversized picture of the Mona Lisa, with the face cut out. Hart didn't need much convincing to go pose...and it turned out to be the best picture EVER!

The line at the Accademia was ridiculous, so Michelangelo's original David statue will have to wait for our next visit. We did see a replica outside of the Palazzo Vecchio, along with another more gruesome statue...too many people pushing us around for us to investigate properly.

We thought the crowds were bad at the Piazza Vecchio, but near the duomo they were almost untenable. Still - what an incredible site. It was breathtaking, and even the clack of selfie sticks and people yelling in 17 languages and babies crying and people pushing rudely past couldn't ruin the moment. Just gorgeous.

Feeling peckish and harried, we ducked away from the throngs to get coffee at Eataly. I love Eataly. This one was really small compared to the one in NYC, but fun. We snacked on a couple of arancini or suppli (can't remember which) and had more amazing coffee.

Fortified, we walked down toward the Arno river, to the Museo Galileo - another terrific museum. I had heard that they had Galileo's actual fingers on display, and, yep indeed, they did. I am not sure what it says about me that I have been so fascinated with the fact that I could - and did - rest my eyes on the actual fingers of the actual Galileo Galilei, 378 years after his death.

Most prominently displayed was his index finger. It was macabre and weird and wild and great.

But I liked the other one better. It is his middle finger. I like to think of this as his eternal F-U to the forces that tried to stifle him as he used science and intellect to challenge political and religious hegemony, and as a reminder for us all to speak truth to power.

More from the Galileo Museum...

As the sun went down over the Arno, we walked back to the apartment, passing the Ponte Vecchio which was possibly the most underwhelming of the "can't-miss" sites in Firenze.

We popped into a local little deli and market called Gastronomia Boschetti to pick up stuff for dinner. Lentils cooked with herbs and mirepoix (we were bummed that they were out of the cotechino sausage that usually accompanies this dish at New Years), sauteed chard, and freshly baked focaccia were delicious. Vitello tonnato was awful - roasted veal with oversalty tuna mayonnaise...there are good versions, but this was not one. We re-heated the leftover fritto misto from the Mercato Centrale, too.

Tuscany takes their truffles as seriously as the Emilia Romagna takes their tortellini

After dinner Hart went up to his loft, which had a skylight, and I watched TV on the couch, facing the window. Right at midnight, we were treated to a beautiful fireworks display, all from the comfort of our little convent apartment.

Most everything was closed on January 1, but we walked around enjoying the beauty of the city, and I was happy to come across this lampredotto stand near the train station. Panino al lampredotto is a very famous Florentine street food - crisp white rolls filled with a particular kind of tripe that has been stewed in a yummy broth that you dunk the bread in. Little did I know that with the exception of the truffle eggs, this would be my favorite bite in Florence. Hart thought it was amazing too, but it really knocked me out.