Europe 2019 - Florence

After enjoying Amsterdam's efficiency and timeliness, we flew to Florence to experience the opposite end of the spectrum and enjoy la dolce vita (the slow life). Our hotel was super nice and had a rooftop bar! Once we arrived, we headed up there to watch the sunset and have a drink - I had Lambrusco and my mom had an Aperol spritz. Lambrusco is my favorite wine but it's so cheap here that it's actually hard to find in the US. The shipping alone makes the bottle double or triple the price. So I'll just enjoy it here. Or look for it at Total Wine.

The next day, we explored Florence. It's my first time being back to a European city, which was really fun! I remembered less than I thought I would, but that's probably a good thing. I didn't love Florence the first time I came due to a lot of external circumstances that I can't blame the city for. Luckily, my friends have had wonderful experiences and convinced me to come back! It's definitely been redeemed!

We spent most of the day shopping but also tried the supposed best gelateria (Gelateria dei Neri) and sandwich shop (All'antico Vinaio). The sandwich shop had a self-serve wine bar outside for two bucks! I'd recommend both if you're around the Duomo. We also walked around the Duomo but didn't go up to the top. They say if you're afraid of heights or claustrophobic not to make the trek up to the top of the dome, and we have one of each in our two person group. Pictures from the ground will suffice.

Later that evening, we took a cooking class! We made a four course Italian meal - vegetable flan, fresh pasta with eggplant caviale, chicken alla cacciatora, and panna cotta. We were stuffed by the end and enjoyed each dish! I can't wait to impress my new KC friends with my Italian cooking expertise haha

Mom making panna cotta

Our sweet chef and teacher Adela

Fresh pasta!

The next day, we took a day trip to Tuscany! Our first stop was a family-owned winery and cheese shop that has been in the family for 500 years! We learned about their organic vineyard and what that classification means. They use other vegetation around the grape vines to keep pests at bay since they can't use any sprays. They hand prune and pick their vineyard to get the best fruit before making the wine.  It was a small operation but the wine was spectacular! It was so good that we decided to ship some home. Then, we headed to a butcher shop for lunch. They specialize in beef butchery. They made us a family-style smorgasbord of cooked, braised, roasted, and boiled beef. Some of it was really delicious! I liked it just because it was a unique and different experience than anything I've ever done. Our last stop of the day was another family owned, organic winery that has been around for 500 years. Our guide told us that all of the surrounding wineries have to also be organic in order for them to qualify as an organic farm to avoid cross contamination. If pesticides were used in the past, the field must be organic for six years before they can sell their wine as organic so that the soil is cleansed of all the contaminants. They take their classifications very seriously! I also learned that Rose is not just red and white wine mixed together. I'm not sure why I thought that, but I did. Instead, it is made from the same grapes as red wine, but they only leave the skins in the fermentation process for a few hours before extracting just the juice. Glad I know that now!

The first winery's fermentation vats

Tuscan hillsides *heart eyes*

Wine tasting

When we got back to Florence, we went wine shopping and actually found a bottle with "Rocca" on the label! SO COOL! We finished our trip in Florence the same way we started - at our rooftop bar drinking Lambrucso and Aperol Spritzes. I loved loved loved our time in Florence but am so excited to be on our way to Venice!

Sunset with a view!

Things I'd recommend/do again -
Cooking Class: ChefFactory
Tuscany Day Trip: Grape Tours
Gelato: Gelateria dei Neri & La Carraia
Sandwich shop: All'antico Vinaio
Hotel: Plaza Hotel Lucchesi
Rooftop bar: Empireo

"You cannot say no to wine and food"

Today, we were in Modena! We started our itinerary at the BioHombre Cheese Farm. They are famous for making Parmagiano-Reggiano and have perfected the craft for generations. The farm makes about fifteen 100kg wheels of cheese each day, which turns out to be about 4,000 per year. They place the newly curdled cheese in a circular mold to push the excess water out before putting it in a salt water brine solution. Then they age the cheese for at least 12 months, and then longer for a more flavorful cheese. They've found most people enjoy 12-36 month aged Parmagiano-Reggiano. We got to sample the 24-month aged cheese, and it was really good! It tasted like Parmesan but was fairly mild. You could really taste the "freshness" (It was two years old but it didn't have preservatives so what do you call that?). Then on the same tour, we got to see the farm owners' Masarati car collection! I want to say he had about 30 cars and 30 motorcycles/bikes/mopeds! I mean we just walked around millions and millions of dollars worth of cars. I'm thinking about moving here and starting my own cheese farm...the dreams continue.
Our next stop was a balsamic vinegar farm(?)...It was basically a family run business that had been making balsamic vinegar for over 150 years! And forget everything you've every known about balsamic vinegar. We've been lied to over in the US and Modena knows the secret. Apparently the only ingredient in true balsamic vinegar is grape must or acidified grape must (the two are interchangeable). Check your bottle at home! It most likely has wine vinegar, grape juice, thickening agents, and colorings. We got to try the real stuff and it was so interesting! It did have a little acidic flavor to it but it was much more complex. Each one is aged for at least ten years, and then an additional amount to produce different flavors. One batch has been aging for the ten years plus 150 years! Our tour guide explained that you make balsamic vinegar to work for the next generation, not your own. How differently I tend to think...We got to try several different ages, a standard 5 year, 16 year in cherry barrels, 16 year in juniper, and the 100 year. The standard 5 year is good for daily use on veggies, salad, meats, etc. The cherry aged is good on ice cream and cheesecake! (And yes it actually would be good on those. Real balsamic vinegar blew my mind.) The juniper has a sharpness to it perfect for meats, and the 100 year doesn't go with anything. A spoonful is a pleasure. We also got a complimentary lunch afterwards with different foods to try with balsamic vinegar including sliced meats, salad, pizza, cheese, and bread. As our tour guide said "One rule in Italy: You cannot say no to wine and food!" She just gets me. I ended up buying a 16 year cherry vinegar and 10 year for daily use. I guess I'm ruined for American balsamic vinegar now, because there's no way I could go back now.  Well I could, but I just don't really want to! The real stuff is just too good! My wallet may tell me otherwise though. To be continued.
Our final stop of the tour day was the Ferrari museum. I will admit I'm not really into cars so I don't know much about the amazing engineering feats that Ferrari was able to accomplish with their engines and why it hadn't been done before. I can say that the cars were SO COOL! I wanted to just hop in one and drive away. Some of them could go up to 300mph! So while I don't know exactly how the engines work, I can say that something is special about them. My favorite room in the museum was the race display room. At least a hundred trophies lined the walls and each racing model was displayed in a circle around the room. They even had championship music playing in the background to give you the full effect of a win in a legendary Ferrari. It was awesome.
After heading back to the hotel, we went out again for dinner. It's not that Modena is small (although it definitely is compared to Rome), but it's much different than Rome. We could walk down the block and pass four restaurants, and here we have to search a bit more. Also, the people here know much less English, which should not be expected of them, but definitely makes our lives a little more confusing. Our first stop was a little restaurant that seemed cute enough. Our group of 12 sat down outside and when the waitress came over, she realized how little Italian we spoke, even combined. She was also not a fan of our putting tables together so we got the stink eye. Then she told us that they only had about one of each entree left (and there were six...). We weren't up for rationing our food so some of us left to go find another restaurant (we again go the stink eye. I'm kind of getting used to it now, since it seems to be the most common look I get here!). If we could speak Italian, we would've explained that we wanted more food and so were going to just go somewhere else but since we didn't, we probably seemed rude for just getting up and walking out. Oh well, the price you pay to eat sometimes. We ended up finding the cutest little restaurant with fun colored glasses and a more modern feel than the typical ristorante. I got a Margherita pizza which was a bit too saucy for me this time, but I'm glad I tried it. The basil was much more evenly spread this time! It was interesting to see how different the same thing was in two different cities. We also tried a frizzante vino bianco (fizzy white wine) that was pretty tasty! The name was something like Pigmentto Frizzante but I can't remember exactly. I also got to try a bite of someone's cheese tortellini with parmesan and balsamic vingear. I can't say I loved it right off the bat because the balsamic really threw me off with the cheesy pasta but as I kept eating, it was surprisingly delicious! We of course finished the night with some creamy gelato - I got stracciatella (because I can't not) and cannoli. There were literally bits of cannoli sheel and mini chocolate chips in a sweet ricotta gelato. It was so yummy! It's the first time I've seen that flavor in Europe but I want to have it again! Here's hoping Venice has some too.
My day in pictures:

CHEESE

The view of cars from the balcony of Mr. Panini's Masarati collection

Aging balsamic vinegar

Ferrari museum

My new favorite food - stracciatella and cannoli gelato

"There's no reason to rush"

This morning, I woke up to a fairly traditional European breakfast of pastries, bread, and croissants with a cappuccino and some water. After my fill of carbs, we walked to the Colosseum for our tour. Our tour guide (who's name I forgot...oops) was fantastic! She told us all about the history of the Colosseum which was so fascinating!
Here are some fun facts:
- It was made entirely of travertine, a type of limestone found about 25 miles outside the city of Rome. Reconstruction is done in brick so that the original structure is apparent while they restore it.
- The shows were all free, but people sat according to their socioeconomic status. Kings and royalty at the very bottom, aristocrats at the second level, priests and priestesses at the third level, merchants and middle class citizens at the fourth level, and the poor and women at the fifth level.
- The wooden stage was covered with sand during the shows, and sand in Latin is "arena." That's how we began calling stadiums "arenas."
- Iron clamps held the many blocks of travertine together as they built the structure from 72-82 A.D. Once the Colosseum was abandoned by the sixth century, every single iron clamp was stolen, which totaled about 300 tons of iron!
-It's estimated that the Colosseum could hold about 70,000 people in its prime and could be emptied in ten minutes. Still waiting for our modern stadiums to take the hint.
- Although a few people volunteered to be gladiators, many were slaves or prisoners who had nothing to lose and basically signed an agreement with the Roman administration saying, "If I survive as a gladiator for ____ amount of time, I will get my freedom."

Our tour lasted about three hours, and our tour guide consistently reminded us, "there's no reason to rush" as we approached steep stairs or were wandering around trying to find the next thing to look at. That seems to be a theme here. People walk slowly on sidewalks, they're somewhat slow to serve you, and you'll never get a check at a restaurant without asking. They're living the Slow Life (it's a thing if you want to look it up) and they are perfectly happy doing it! I'm not totally used to it yet, but I love the idea. I'm hoping I can still be a little productive when I get back home, though.

Not only was the tour interesting, the Colosseum was grand and beautiful and well-designed. I would've loved to talk to one of the architects who designed the Colosseum  - who builds something entirely in limestone that meets every arena's needs for 500 years the first time?! A team I want to meet, that's who. I could've stayed there for an entire day, but unfortunately the tour ended and lunch was calling.

We ended up at a small Italian restaurant on a street corner, as they all are, and sat down for some much needed food. I ended up having my first Italian margherita pizza with a lemon soda! The crust was much thinner than I was expecting but still slightly fluffy and light. The cheese was amazingly fresh but the one basil leaf surprised me. In typical obnoxious American fashion, I ripped my single basil leaf to try to sprinkle each piece with a bit. Maybe Italians just eat the basil leaf in one bite? I still haven't figured that out yet.

After lunch, Allie and I broke off from the group to find a straightener and curling iron. It's HOT here so my natural hair lasts a solid twenty minutes before getting frizzy. If you don't know, the voltage here is twice the voltage of American outlets, so American straightener plates basically "melt" off the straightener. It's pretty crazy. On our way back to the hotel, we obviously stopped for gelato and I relived my glory days with some Stracciatella! It's basically hard shell chocolate chip with vanilla gelato and when it's done right, it's the best ice cream type dessert I've ever had! This one was perfect.

Then we had a very chill afternoon. Still coming off of jet lag, naps were much needed. Then, it was off to our group dinner! We started off with lasagna (like as an appetizer. A giant piece of lasagna was our appetizer). Then came an interesting pork/prosciutto dish which was alright...I think I'll stick with the pasta. Finally, we had a dessert. I'm pretty sure it was custard with a type of berry jelly on top, but a more accurate description we came up with was "cheese jello" or "gelatinous ricotta." It wasn't the worst thing I've ever had, but again, I'm going to stick with the classic gelato.

To end the night, almost the entire group went to an ice bar! It was literally a bar entirely made of ice. The walls and rooms, every shelf and seat, the bar and everything in between was made of ice! Even the drinks were served in ice cone cups. We had to wear these coat poncho things to keep warm, which unfortunately didn't cover my feet in sandals...don't judge me, it's hot here! I was so excited to be cold for just a little while. I got the Cristal Gold - limoncello and sprite and it was pretty good! On our way home, we stopped for gelato again! Because you can never have too much gelato, and I only have nine more days to eat my fill!

Outside the Colosseum

Me casually standing inside the Colosseum

The rooms underneath what would've been the stage. For gladiators and animals - think of it like our backstage.

Margherita pizza with a single basil leaf

Stracciatella! My fave

Giant piece of lasagna appetizer

Cheese jello

Wearing the ice bar coat poncho

Stracciatella and Nutella gelato