Tim went for a run this morning—a 3.5 mile run down the Arno, across it, and back. He stopped at a cafe on the way back for a coffee and a couple of croissants…and to marvel at the price relative to Switzerland (~$4.50).
Once Tim was showered and Benton was up, we headed out for a more substantive breakfast and then to the Boboli Gardens—a pretty large garden planned and initially built by the Medicis in the 1500s, and then opened to the public in the late 1700s. It is attached to Pitti Palace, which we knew was going to be closed today, and we thought we’d spend maybe an hour in the gardens. We wound up in the gardens…for several hours. Part of that was because a couple of rainstorms came through while we were there, but a garden that is hedge-heavy and has been around for a few years has plenty of rain-resistant foliage to take cover under. The most consistent feature of the gardens are the hedges that are manicured and 15+ feet tall—lots of long, wide paths that are lined by solid walls of hedged greenery!
We then walked over to Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore to see if we could take a look inside there, but there was a pretty long line in the sun for that, so we decided we would try to get there when it opens tomorrow and do that before our electric bike tour. We meandered back towards our flat and found a nice place to eat outside, after which we stopped by a grocery for a few supplies. Then, it was to the flat for a little bit of unwinding before our evening activity.
Our evening activity was a 2.5-hour pasta making class. We left early enough to walk around a bit and grab a drink. The class itself was pretty interesting. It’s put on by a local culinary school, and they have a student of the culinary school actually lead the class. We had 11 people in our class, and each of us got a bowl of flour and an egg, and we walked through the process of making the dough, then splitting it into two parts—one of which we used to make a couple of filled pastas, and one of which we used to make fettuccine. A chef then cooked up the pasta, and they served it to us with wine, with a slice of “chocolate salami” for dessert. There were little breaks here and there between activities, so we had some nice chats with a couple from Poland, as well as a couple of Americans from LA (who knew each other, but were not formally traveling together—they both just realized they were in town at the same time and had coordinated some activities with each other).
That wrapped around 10:00, and we headed back to the apartment, where Tim FaceTimed with Alana for a while before calling it a night.
An interesting/memorable experience of the day:
Benton: the power going out at the end of the pasta making class—right after the instructor had said we could hang out and enjoy our wine and each other for a bit. And also the nonsensical T-shirt that we saw on a guy at lunch who walked by us several times.
Tim: The number of fountains in Boboli Gardens that…did not have water flowing through them. The Fontana dei Mostaccini (fountain of the little ugly faces) was a really cool and extended fountain that followed a long, sloping path down the back of the gardens—water (would) flow out of an ugly face sculpture, then down a trough for 10’ or so, and then into the back of another ugly face, out of its mouth, down another trough, etc. Alas! No water was flowing! This was the case for a number of the fountains, unfortunately. And…the waiter when we got drinks before the pasta making getting himself a beer, lighting up a cigarette, and then sitting down at a table with a few other people—his co-worker seemed to indicate that maybe now wasn’t a good time for a break, but he wasn’t phased at all.
