our last full day in this area. we went to the office where we are staying, and the lady helped us book tickets for the uffizi museum. we were told that you have to book ahead otherwise you can be on line for hours. we arrived in florence around 12:30 and split up. p went to get tickets. he said later that the line to pick up tickets was just a little shorter than the line to buy tickets – but i was happy to avoid any risk that we’d have to wait on line for hours. he also said that the booking cost 4 euros in addition to the ticket, but this happened to be cultural week and so the tickets were free. jj and i went shopping looking for my old favorites shops. the jewelry store where they made replicas of jewelry seen in renaissance paintings didn’t seem to be there anymore. the. leather store was there, but didn’t find anything. we met p at museum. p had scouted around and found a lovely little restaurant on a quiet square. i had gnuddo, sort of like big dumplings made of fresh spinach mixed with ricotta and baked and white sauce poured on top. it was very good and fresh tasting. p and jj both had pizza. these are the times i love the best, sitting in the sun in a quiet italian cafe. very atmospheric.
we spent about 2 hours in the ufizzi, which has many of the best renaissance pieces including botticelli’s “birth of venus” and “spring”. it was fun to see the pieces again, even though we just did a quick run through. p said he wasn’t bowled over. to him, it was just a bunch of old paintings. i do prefer these paintings to those in the louvre, where i am very aware of how our tastes are different now. however, we were all quite taken this time, with the portraits by bronzino. really touching and beautiful.
the museum shop had jewelry replicas from the paintings – just like the shop i had been looking for. p bought me a beautiful pair of amethyst and pearl earrings from one of the bronzino portraits. they are my new favorites. there was a website written on the little bag – which was: www.tharros.com. so you can check it out, but i don’t see a way of ordering online.
afterwards headed to the famous gelato shop, vivoli, and this time we were successful. but to be honest, it didn’t blow me away like the first time i had it. we have an excellent gelato chain store in paris called amorino. plus, as p reminded us, the famous sorbet and ice cream by berthillon sold on ile st louis, is amazing. we headed home, and were going to try a restaurant recommended by the lady in the office, but it was a bit too pricey so we decided to go back to the “locanda di pietracupa”. this time, jj ordered the truffle zucchini pasta and tagliatelle of beef. i would have ordered the truffle pasta again, but since jj ordered it, i decided to try the risotto with asparagus and shared her beef. p had the onions again – it was the only vegetarian starter – and the spinach ravioli. it wasn’t the same experience as the first night. oh well, always the danger in going back.
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