Auguri di Buona Pasqua! It’s taken almost a week, but we’re finally feeling settled in to our new apartment in Florence. We’re pleased to report that one non-fitted queen-size sheet is indeed enough to keep two single “beds” (more like cots) from sliding apart and that no one has had a rude awakening by falling through the crack in the middle. We’ve figured out how everything except the microwave works – including a ventless dryer whose tank needs to be emptied after every load – and successfully rented and played and returned several DVDs to the automat, most of which we even managed to hear in English. (As we found out too late, foreign films don’t have English subtitles or audio tracks.) We’ve negotiated the farmers’ market, the supermarket, the drug stores, and the drycleaners, but we haven’t yet managed the bus, because when we tried to buy tickets last evening all the tobacco stores were closed. (Yes, you have to buy bus tickets at the tobacconist!) We took a walk down to the Duomo area, which was packed chock full of tourists, and gasped at the length of the lines to get into the Uffizi (a Medici palace that now serves as one of the world’s best known and most important art museums) and the Accademia (the overrated museum where Michelangelo’s “David” is housed). Fortunately we visited both museums on our last trip to Florence in 2003, so we can wait for a day and time when the crowds die down a bit. Diana managed to get into the Bargello, a somewhat underappreciated 13th century brick fortress that later became a prison, a palace, and now a treasury of Florentine sculpture. We wandered around for hours and hours trying to find a couple of restaurants that we loved so much last time, but couldn’t remember their names or addresses. One we found eventually by coming home to check on the internet, and recognizing the name on a list of Frommer’s recommendations, but the other remains a mystery. Allen thought the first one, a tiny osteria with 5 tables, lived up to his memories of it (even though the original owner, who was a real character, has since passed away), but Diana has been spoiled in the meantime. There’s something very special about the first time they plunk a whole bottle of grappa on the table and tell you to have as much as you want for free! (We came twice that day…) But as we remembered from last time, practically every restaurant in Florence is great – it’s hard to go wrong. Anyway, we're working on getting a new photo album uploaded (Yahoo has not been cooperating today!) and tomorrow we’ll let you know how Florentines celebrate Easter Sunday. (If the size of the chocolate Easter eggs in the supermarket is any clue, the word “vomitorium” comes to mind.)
