Thngs to in Florence #2 - Sit in outdoor cafe in a Piazza

Sitting in outdoor cafes in Piazza's is one of my favourite things to do in Italy, in fact any where.  If you sit in one of the main squares you will pay a premium for the drink, but I think it is worth it, especially if this is the only time you will be there. The people watching and soaking up the atmosphere is worth the little extra you may pay.  In Paris have a coffee on the Champs Elysee, it will probably be one of the most expensive coffees of your life, but you will always remember it.

In Florence we decided to have a bottle of Prosecco in Piazza della Signoria over looking the Pellazzo Vecchio.

It was a beautiful sunny warm lunch time and though none of us was very hungry we decided to look at the menu for something to eat to go with our Prosseco.  Then prices were indeed horribly expensive, but it was just so darn pleasant we decided to order any way.  While we were waiting for our food, we received two plates of appetizers and two bowls of nuts and snacks for free!

One of the platters of appetizers

Things to do in Florence #1 - Walk up to Piazza Michelangelo

One of the things that was on our agenda to do in Florence was get up to Piazza Michelangelo to see the view looking over the city and to visit a Church. Our starting point was The Pitti Palace which is situated just over the Ponte Vecchio on the south side of the river Arno.

Ponte Vecchio

There is a very complicated ticketing system at the Pitti Palace there are several things to see and you have to be careful to get the right ticket.  We got the one for the costume gallery and to both Boboli and the Bardini Gardens, so that we could walk through the gardens up to our destination.

Pitti Palace

The costume gallery was wonderful, clothes through the ages is one of my old loves, as a child I used to study books of clothes through the centuries and my favourite museum was the Victoria and Albert which has an amazing collection.  This was a very good collection, and they were displayed in style rather than age.  For instance there were dresses from the 20's displayed with a dress from the 60's that had a similar design.  We all enjoyed this (but no pictures allowed) and then we went out to the gardens.

They were formal Italian gardens not a lot of flowers, but full of statues and vistas.  We walked up the gardens ably guided by Connie and her guide book as to how to get to the Piazza Michelangelo.  It was quite warm and we took our time walking up.

Looking back at the Palace

At the top of the gardens you go left out down a winding street to the Bardini gardens.

Perseus Restaurant Florence

 We had asked the owner of the apartment we were staying for some recommendations for local restaurants, we also did research, Connie the old fashioned way in her guide books and Nancy and I on the Ipads and everyone pointed to Perseus Restaurantl .As it was very close to were we were staying we walked by one afternoon to check it out.  At the entrance we were greeted by a friendly waiter and a large glassed in cool room with enormous chunks of tbone steak hanging in it.

Steak in the front entrance

This is not a place for vegetarians, and as it turned out not for people with small appetites. We made a reservation for later that evening.

At 8:00 the place was busy but not full and most of the diners appeared to be locals.  Nancy and I decided we would share one of the steaks which it declared on the menu in English and Italian only came rare, and our waiter reiterated this.  Apparently the only way to eat the Florentine speciality Bistecca alla Fiorentina was rare, so rare it would be.  The waiter then said that he would send us an assortment of appetizers, he asked if we ate like Italians, I think I can say that the answer to that should have been no.

The first thing that arrived was a dish of beans with pork, which I loved (though still not tasting anything really) then a platter of assorted bruschetta.

Assorted Bruschetta

There was a liver pate which even though I had this horrible cold that did not allow me to smell or taste I could taste the very strong liver taste.  OK for me as I love liver not so good for some of my fellow diners. there was also one with lardo and anchovies on it. (more about lardo another day) as well as the traditional tomato and basil bruschetta.

We also received this beautiful large crispy flat bread, I am not sure what it was or whether we paid for it , but it had a wonderful texture. (it was all about texture at this point)

Then on to the main event, and the steak is quite an event, it comes to the table whole and then is cut apart by the waiter, as even Italians do not eat this alone. We told our waiter that we wanted to photograph it and he was very obliging.

Steak for two

Cooking in Florence - antipasto pizza artichokes

One of the main reasons for wanting an apartment in Florence was so that I could cook with all those wonderful Italian ingredients.  As it turned out there were many reasons having an apartment it was better than a hotel, and I got a stinking cold as I arrived which meant I could not taste or smell almost the entire time.  This took some of the pleasure out of cooking (and eating too I am afraid).  Never the less cook we would.

There was a supermarket just around the corner from our apartment and hunting and gathering there was a treat.

Wonderful looking artichokes in the market

The first day that we went I saw these artichokes and I had to cook them.  I cooked them my favourite way  served in a light lemony vinaigrette.

Artichoke hearts

There was of course an abundance of antipasto fixings, hams, salamis and cheeses.  So it was easy to put out platters of these and nibble as we had our pre dinner prosseco.

Apartment in Firenza (Florence)

There were four of us going to Florence for 5 days and we decided to rent an apartment instead of staying in a hotel, like we did in San Juan.  We found the apartment on tripadvisor called Casa Iris It had 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms and a fully equipped kitchen.

We were on the top floor of this building

It was centrally located with in walking distance of all the sites, but a little removed so that the local restaurants were mostly catering to locals.  Having a large living room to sit in the evening enjoying a glass of wine or emailing home, was much preferable to a hotel bed room.

The living room

Things to do in London #4 -The National Gallery & Lunch at Covent Garden

The National Gallery is one of the Treasures of London, they have an extensive collection of art from all time periods and all over the world. It is situated on one side of Trafalgar Square with the Canada House to it's left and St Martins in Fields to its right as you stand looking at Nelsons Column.

View from the National gallery

I have been there many times and Nancy had been there previously as well, but there is always more to see and some favourites to re visit.  The audio guide has been voted as the best in the world and it is wonderful, and as the gallery is free you do not resent paying for it.  This time though we only had an hour or so, so we just hit a few of the high lites before walking 10 minutes over to Covent Garden for lunch.

Covent Garden is the historical site of the fruit and Vegetable market for London. In 1973 it was moved to a less congested area in London and the market as well as the grand open space around it was converted to a shopping and eating mecca popular with both tourists as well as Londoners.

Inside the Market

Though very tempted by the large Paella stall, due to lack of seating we decided to opt for The Punch and Judy pub.

Large vats of Paella

Things to do in London #3 - Boat trip to Kew Gardens

We decided that we wanted to go on a boat trip along the Thames as this was something, although I had grown up in London, I had never done.  Our first idea was to to go to Hampton Court, but due to lack of research and Planning we were too late for the only boat of the day.  So we decided on Kew Gardens as the boat was leaving in 1/2 hour and anyway Kew would be a nice respite from Urban London.

Nancy waiting for the boat to start

The boat left from just below Westminster bridge opposite the London Eye, they seemed to be about every 2 hours, though the time varied based on the tides.  I did not realize how tidal the Thames is in London, but the time we were going the tide was very low and many boats were high and dry.

The first part of the trip takes you past many London land marks ably pointed out by our skipper, but further down the river you come across more and more large modern developments taking advantage of the river view.

Then past those we went along the route of the annual Oxford and Cambridge rowing race and in to a more rural landscape. There were some beautiful old houses with their gardens stretching down to the water as well as quite a few house boats.

The trip was about 2 hours and a little chilly in the breeze so we were glad to land at Kew and solid ground.  The weather was sunny with white fluffy cloud, lovely weather for a walk around the Gardens. The gardens are about a 10 minute walk from the boat and the route is well sign posted.

Kew gardens is famous for its glass houses and and Arboretum.  Sadly in October 1987 there was a hurricane that destroyed about a third of the mature trees at Kew, but as we wandered around the gardens there many trees that have been planted in the last 24 years that are filling the gaps.

The Palm house built in 1844