FIRENZE (Florence)!!
Florence was about one thing. And for those of you who read our emails daily, you know what this one is: FOOOOOODDDD!!!
Italian cuisine is, naturally, one of my favourite type of meals. When cooked properly with sauce that's well made, and meats that complement both the sauce and the cheese nicely, I'll eat BOATLOADS! Haha I believe my mom and Steph can attest to that one.
Ever since leaving on this trip, I've been dying to find out what TRUE Italian cuisine is all about! So finally! We did! When we got there, we ate a quick fastfood lunch (none other than, Mcdonalds!) and then we went to the Musee Accademia (or something). Basically we entered, were greeted with a buncha paintings which were nice, a statue called the Rape of the Sabines - which was actually pretty cool, and then we entered a room with... The STATUE OF DAVID by Michelangelo!! Pretty much every single one of us said the same thing: "WHOA he's HUGE!!" lol. Followed, of course, by the comments we know well and love/hate haha. The statue was REALLY cool to see! It was incredibly detailed all the way down to the veins, and it was so graceful yet grandeur at the same time! Lol anyhow, we headed back out for DINNER!!!!!!!
When we first got to Florence, the hotel receptionist actually gave us two places to go to for some of the best meals in town! So we went to the one closest to us. The receptionist guy also told us to order the Pappadella dish, which turned out to be a really FAT pasta with wild boar meat inside some tomato sauce! And obviously, here it's fresh and homemade! So Mikee and Bern ordered that whole Jamie ordered a Pici with meat sauce (thick spaghetti like pasta), and I ordered a Tagliatelli with meat sauce (kinda like thicker fettuccine). And WOW. It was amazing. EVERY SINGLE ONE of those absolutely delicious meals were ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS!! It was so good, that I, naturally, ordered a second pasta dish haha. I ordered Jamie's Pici dish, scarfed it down, and was SUPER satisfied =).
The next day, we headed down to Pisa to see the leaning tower of Pisa! It was pretty cool to see how much it actually leans lol - and yeah, we took all the obvious poses for the shots =P. After, we headed back on the train to something called the Cinque Terre (google it!) - which means the five... lands? It's basically five towns on the coastline of Italy, which hits the Mediterranean Sea. And WOW this place had absolutely STUNNING views. It was definitely an awesome view. So we hiked across to some of the towns and also decided to go swimming on the ridiculously clear waters, which may or may not have been a good idea, since we all came out ever so slightly injured with small cuts from the rocks haha. But we're all fine and dandy for the most party now!
Anyway, enough about our events in Florence, let's talk about FOOD! So that night, we came back and tried to go to the second recommended restaurant, but it was closed already. So we ate at another place nearby! Same deal, but this time we each ordered something different! Mikee ordered the Gnocci with blue cheese and asparagus (which was AMAZING - he says it's probably his favourite pasta dish, which as you'll see, we've had MANY). Bern ordered a risotto, which was decent, Jamie ordered some sort of pasta with meat sauce, and I ordered Raviolli stuffed with potatoes and meat sauce (which was also AMAZING!!) All in all, another amazing pasta place.
By the way, I should mention that pretty much every restaurant here has unlimited FRESH parmesan cheese, which is sooooooooo gooooood. LOVE IT.
So the third day, we decided to go to the second recommended restaurant again! This puppy was slightly different. Instead of giving you a menu, they tell you the choices for, wait for it, the first AND second courses AND a vegetable dish, AND a soft drink AND water (which, for those who don't know, is not unlimited, nor free in Europe - super sad face) - ALL for 11 euros! MMMMMMMmmmmm. SOOOO Mikee chose the spinach and cheese ravioli for the first course, beef carpaccio (slim slices of meet with cheese on top), and a bowl of artichokes LOL. He liked everything except the artichokes. Bern ordered a Fettucine with pesto sauce, a calamari dish, and a salad. Jamie had a GORGEOUS seafood risotto, chicken cacciatore (btw, East Side Marios has it completely WRONG), and spinach vegetables, which were actually quite disgusting haha. Anyway, for me, for my first course, I had Spicy Macaroni - which was AMAZING. Btw, their macaroni is actually like more thinner, smaller, Penne instead of the elbow macaroni we know. I also had a swordfish steak (pretty good!) and hands down, the BEST roasted potatoes I've ever had!
Anyhoo, we roamed around town, visited the Musee Uffizi, which houses some of the works of Michelangelo and Raphael! We also went outside of town later in the afternoon for a stunning view of the city! Unfortunately, it also killed our feet hiking up that hill haha, but we stayed and chilled there for sundown and then headed back for.... wait for it... DINNER!!
So by the time we got back, most of the places were closed so we went to the first Italian restaurant we could stumble upon, and BOY did we stumble upon one.
Everything was pretty standard Italian restaurant style, so we ordered our stuff! Mikee had Calvatelli (? I think) with spicy sausages which were REALLY REALLY good. Bern had Linguini with clams and breadcrumbs, which were unbelievably gorgeous. Jamie had lasagna, which was also really good! Finally, I had a regular Spaghetti with meatballs! Seriuosly, the tomato sauce they used was probably THE best tomato sauce EVER. Sooo incredibly flavourful. The meatballs were slightly disappointing, cuz I think it was like purely lean beef or something. But it was okay with the absolutely amazing tomato sauce haha.
Anyway! We were all enjoying our food, when out of nowhere, one of the young waiters brought out this gigantic steak dish thing, which smelled AMAZING as he passed by. The worst part was, he hesitated when he passed by our table, and whispered, BEST STEAK IN THE CITY. We were all stunned. We had heard of the legendary Florentine steaks, but we had just finished our last meal in Florence! We huddled in and discussed a bit. Finally, we decided that if we didn't do it, we'd TOTALLY regret it. So we did. We ordered the smallest one they had (minimum was 1kg, but we got a 0.8kg one haha).
And we waited. And then it came. And it rushed through EVERY SENCE we had in our bodies.
First, the sight. GORGEOUS.
Second, the smell. Like the waft from a bakery, the gorgeous smell of the meat was almost dizzying. It was amazing.
Third, the touch. I kid - the TASTE. Wow. Cripsy, insanely juicy, amazingly and perfectly cooked, and WHAT A HEAVENLY PIECE OF MEAT it was. Wow. Every. Single. Bit. Wow. Even just watching the expressions of your best friends experience every emotion possible as you experience exactly the same thing was something else. Wow.
Florentine steak. You wow like no other.
So... that was Florence =). Good food, amazing architecture, amazing culture, ABSOLUTELY AMAZING FOOD. =)
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