Kristen's Birthday!!

Happy Birthday to Kristen!! Given that my birthday is in November, I've never had the chance to spend it in Italy. I'm sure that alone would be a wonderful present. But gladly for Kristen today had so much more!

First off, let me say this: You know how you go to the giant grocery store with you car and stock up for a week? Italians don't do that. And Italian tourists don't do that either. It's hot here, plus we're cycling, and the water from the faucet is not drinkable as far as most people are concerned, so as mentioned earlier, we're making lots of trips to the grocery store...like, every day! Most of the time it's for water. 

Now here's another thing: many Americans go on vacation to places like the Carribean for a relaxing time. Remember those daily trips to the grocery store I just mentioned? Today Kristen and I each carried a six-pack of 1.5l bottles, 500 meters back to the apartment then up the six flights of stairs. Between that, the cycling and all the other walking and stairs, we're really working our asses off this trip. No wonder I usually loose weight when I go to Italy! 

So, yes, for Kristen's birthday we went to the grocery store...but that's not all we did luckily. The main event today was a "short" ride out to Convento di Monte Senario. As I mentioned in the previous post, the convent sits at 2600ft above sea level. The climb begins almost immediately after you exit the main area of Firenze, and you climb 14 miles out into what seems like the middle of nowhere. It was absolutely beautiful; very easy to forget that Firenze is so close.

The ride out was very interesting. At first you ride a somewhat busy road, Via Bologense (guess where that road takes you to), and then split off to some really nice back roads towards the end. The last bit of the climb up to the convent is incredible. Some nice switchbacks and by that point you're up into the dense pine forest. The pine trees kept it cool and shady but you could smell the sweet pine sap heating up under the hot Tuscan sun. The final stretch to the convent was quite steep but with the beautiful building in sight it was easy to just power up there. 

 

Once we got up there, we looked around, had a little snack, then made our way back down. The descent was very nice, minus a few incidents. We were able to take different roads all the way back, and seeing as how the road there was almost entirely uphill, obviously the way back was almost entirely downhill. On the upper slopes of the climb, Kristen got twice stung by a bee on the upper arm. She said it really hurt at first but we didn't even have to stop riding and after a mile or so, it was fine. She's tough! As we made our way down, I was looking behind for Kristen to make sure she was okay with the switchbacks and I nailed a big hole. If I were looking, there's no way I would have hit it, but I hit it hard, and pinched-flatted the rear. I have to say though, it was the most beautiful place I've ever had a flat! I just so happened to flat right across the street from a little piazza that overlooked the entire valley down to Firenze. There was a shady tree, the tire came off and back on easily and even the pumping wasn't too bad today. Kristen got to hang out and enjoy the view and after a few minutes we were back on our way. 

After a few days of riding here, Kristen is taking to the traffic quite well. She's starting to ride like one of these Florentines on their Vespa! I'm glad she's enjoying it. Riding here is just wonderful and the rides are only going to get longer and harder. Plus, it's going to get hotter in the coming days. 

After our ride, we ate lunch "at home", then headed out to Mercato San Lorenzo to shop. The leather goods are superb and the prices are very reasonable. We visited Massimo again and Kristen found a great jacket. He's going to have his guy make her a custom one that adds about 7cm to the sleeves. Kristen is small but her arms are long! Out of curiousity, and Massimo's skillful yet very subtle salesmanship, I ended up coming out of there with a jacket as well. Kristen also got a great messenger-style bag to use for teaching. It's something you'd easily pay $300 for in the US, but the price was far from that. 

  

Dinner tonight was wonderful. We went to this place called Il Vezzo. It's literally 300ft from our apartment and the food is outstanding. If you're in Firenze anytime soon, go there! It's not typical Tuscan food, rather a modern riff on it, with the freshest ingredients and creative plates. We shared a Farro  Salad with cherry tomatoes, mozzarella di bufala and basil with a very light caper and almond pesto. Superb! Kristen had roast pork with roasted vegetables in a plum sauce with artisan beer and lavender, and I had ricotta croquettes with eggplant, zucchini, and chard, over a carrot pink peppercorn cream. Sounds expensive, but it really wasn't. We're definitely going back there! Plus, the restuarant had a bicycle theme. The menu and logo featured a bicycle and inside hung a bike supposedly from a builder here in Firenze that dated back to 1901. Pretty cool!

Again, we finished our day with some gelato and some laundry. Tomorrow we'll shop some more and do some touristy things. Perhaps a Duomo tour, we'll see. So much to do! Luckily we're here for seven more days. For now, it's bedtime. More tomorrow.