A walk along the river- Florence

I must say I really am enjoying touring by foot.  I would love to be seeing more by car but this walking opportunity has helped me to see the details that I might otherwise miss on a bus or in a car.  I see this river daily at least once if not twice.  I am beginning to learn the various characteristics it has in the daylight and at night or in the rain vs the sun.  I think I often move by life so quickly that I forget to see life and to really look at it in detail.  

Just a few glimpses.

Menu translations are funny and varied, Tripa stand

Banana fruit frozen to the cream

Climbed on whipped cream

and gasket to the chocolate

Triparia, yes a tripe stand right in front of our hotel.

Happy to be traveling

Wow time flies!
I seem to have been caught in a time warp at culinary school and lacking internet access.  As it sit here atop a beautiful bluff in a rainstorm the electricity has gone out and a silence has filled the air my heater is off and I can hear the wind and the waves below.  I have been delayed in posting and tonight as long as I continue to be able to access the internet I can post.  My camera has decided to become even more temperamental so I continue to bring you mainly photos from my phone camera.  I hope that the holiday was good for all of you.  It feels like 100 years ago to me now.

Today I enjoyed a a trip to wonderful market beside the sea.  It seems that the Clementines and oranges are even more fragrant and sweet down in southern Italy.  I met many farmers, a family who has a stand of roasted nuts and dried fruits , I have a kilo of beautiful dried figs sitting next to me as I write this.  I sampled my way through this market.  Fresh cheeses, honey, fruit and vegetables.  It is fennel season, which I guess is often and the bulbs are huge.  We bought some mushrooms and were given recipes by the local women. I wondered through the market following one of my chef teachers and asked many questions and her expertise and language fluency made it a blast.  I continue to try my Italian at every opportunity, however, my classes are in english and classmates speak english so I'm not practicing mush at all.  We were given some honey from the bee keeper who told us that it is a mineral rich honey and very special as the bees penetrate into plants and vegetables to get the sap in a special way.  Again my Italian is not quite up to speed.  He has the most fragrant orange blossom honey! and I tried the wild flower honey too it is floral and gentle in flavor and because he does not heat it the flavor is almost buttery.  The wind is crazy strong right now.
I have a few photos from the  market I will post another time.  For now a few other shots.

Rain In Florence.

Still a beautiful place.

A local market in Florence, ham ham and more ham hanging up in the back. This was like the local Sams club type sized store but look at the great stuff they had. See the fresh fish below they were at this same store.

A sunny day in Florence.

The countryside behind the hotel in Florence.  This was a hilly area that had small villages dotted all over the hills.

This is a two lane road, a road cars fly down.

OH my, pasta with white truffles, this was fantastic I went back for a repeat but somehow got the black truffles .  I preferred this white.  This was truffles butter and pasta simple and perfect.  The restaurant is the Chinghale Bianco Im certain I misspelled tonight.  it is on the "other " side of the river across the Ponte Vecchio.  

Siena

A tour around Siena show me that there is still so much variation in all of the towns of Italy that I might stay quite busy for the next few years seeing it all... On this cold day I took a guided tour through the streets learned of the Burroughs that are named and have the big rivalry that is expressed during the horse races that are held twice a year.  This town also has an extensive market just outside the old part with the famed or as my tour guide said about one million times the "renowned" prochetta sandwiches.. these are roasted pork on a bread roll that are dipped in wonderful juices... so good.

Gothic archetecture

the main church covered in pink, white and green marble

Inside, just amazing

the floors- inlaid marble

the dome high above, quite like the Pantheon

Narrow streets and stone buildings

The renowned piazza where horses have been known to win races without the rider still on board.

San Gimignano

San Gimignano

Evening in San Gimignano is a beautiful event.  From the vantage point of this picturesque place high above the Tuscan lands it is easy to see why Tuscany is considered a favorite place for tourists and dreamers alike.  It is December in Tuscany,  this particular day was cold.  Things are quiet this time of year as it is the Holiday season and tourism slows.  It is a nice time to visit although many things are closed,  most importantly the famous gelato place in this town :(.  Gelateria di Piazza.  I have read about it and arrived to find it closed until what looks like February.  Too bad for me.  Not that I haven't had the opportunity to discover many places along my travels.  It is about 30 degrees and I am sad not to be able to eat this gelato.  I indulge in some holiday Biscotti ( yummy cookies)  instead.  As it is getting dark these photos are in rather dim light and do not do justice to this pretty place.  As I walked around I stumbled upon an man reciting Dante' Divine Comedy up on a high part above the main walking streets near a park overlooking the farms below.  The sun was setting and he was very seriously taking on the task of his recitation.  

The beautiful narrow walking streets of this village.

Scenic nooks

 Rooftops and stone buildings of the region

Bella Tuscana

This lovely setting is a cafe perched on a high cliff/ hillside above farms and vineyards.  It is quite dark now but it would surely make a lovely spot for a cup of tea.

A quiet night time stroll in Florence

Me and the Duomo, Just the two of us.  Pretty cool.  The next day there were hundreds...

 Beautiful river 

Ponte Vecchio "Old Bridge"

Amazing what you can see at night I was really one of maybe 50 people I saw while roaming the streets at about 9:30.  Not tourist season that is for sure.  This all changed however as Christmas in Florence is a time of strolling the city center.  People were out in droves.  Shopping and window shopping or just walking.