Italy; Florence

The second portion of our adventure in Italy was in Florence. We spent 5 and a half days in Florence. During that time we walked almost 30 miles, drank a little over 5 bottles of wine and had a whirlwind tour of the Uffizi Palace and the Academia. We foolishly thought we could do a three hour walking tour of Florence in the morning, followed by tours of the Uffizi and Academia in the afternoon. We had a great city tour, but only and overview of the museums. Oh, we also ate a lot of great Italian food. One of our tour guides, who was from California pointed out something that should have been obvious, there is almost no other culinary ethnicity's available in Florence at the very least and Italy in general. Try and get a Taco or Cheddar cheese! We did find a great small tasting room on the south bank of the Arno, just up the street from the Ponte de Vechio across the street from the Pitti Palace. It is called Pitti Gola (phone 055/212704) and I believe it's address is E Cantina 16. One of the ppartners is agreat guy named Zeno Fioravanti. If you ask, he will put together a tasting menu. Jan & I spent six hours there and tried more than 8 wines as well as having a wonderful light dinner. Zeno's English is very good and he can advise you on not only the wines he carries, but others found in the region. On out last day in Florence we stumbled upon the Florence Synagogue which was finished in 1882. What makes this synagogue so interesting to Jan and myself is its similarity to Plum Street temple here in Cincinnati. The two structures where built around the same time and feature Moorish motifs. WE were not able to tour because it was after two on a Friday. I will give more wine info in the next instalment, our time in Siena and surroundings, I promise. Italy is a beautiful country and Tuscany is a magical part of that country.