Wednesday September 29, 2010--Foodies Unite in Florence--Part 1

In an effort to avoid our train ride mishap yesterday, we were determined to get off the ship 1st thing in the morning and get our behinds to the station pronto. I'd read that there is a free shuttle or you can take a taxi for a flat rate of 20E no matter how many folks you gather together for the ride. We happened to meet a couple who were thinking along the same lines and we grabbed a taxi right away and arrived at the station with time to spare. Buying our tickets, well...that was another matter. In Italy no one moves quickly, they just don't find the necessity to do so. Therefore, even though we arrived on time, the ticket counter clerk moved like molasses...let me just tell you, it's no fun to step out onto the platform only to watch your train pull away from the station. UGH!

We were lucky that there was just one more train we could take that would get us into Florence, with a little wiggle room, before our 4-hour food and wine tour started. Deja vu anyone?

The train arrived on time, pulled out on time, and dropped us off on time...now it was our turn to find the tour ON time. When in doubt, jump in a taxi...we had moments to spare and arrived to meet the tour group at exactly 10am. Woo hoo...we made it!!! What a great tour we had ahead of us...a small group of 8 people with our guide leading the way through the streets of Florence. It does not get much better than that.


First stop a bakery, yummy












Warm bread, ham & cheese


The bakers in back working the dough


Next stop another bakery...be still my heart





Too bad we could not return to the bakery for more a meal after the tour


Light, airy, fluffy filled pastry...good thing I ate very light for breakfast


Then we moved on to a huge indoor fresh food market for our olive oil, balsamic vinegar, cheese, wine, cookie and tripe tasting. Did I say tripe....yup we actually ate the belly of an animal and it was pretty good.


Tripe...boiled meet anyone? The Italian history lesson behind this meal was extremely interesting

Next up...Part 2 of the food market


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