Yeah anyway, Steve and I are watching Pelham 123 although we're mad because we wanted to watch X-Men, but the hotel didn't have it available to borrow. I guess my life isn't perfect.
We had the car just until 12:30 today so we got up early and after breakfast drove to Vinci, home of Leonard da. I was there once before but it's so beautiful: If you look at any of his paintings, and then look at the background, you can see what inspired him. The museum isn't too much to see and his house was closed so we just got lost driving in the hills above the town. We saw a lot of crazy bicyclists out on rides with their teams and also people harvesting their olive groves, which was quite lovely.
We dropped the car off and walked to Piazza Santa Maria Novella, which Steve declared his least-favorite neighborhood thus far thanks to its proximity to the train station and general shadiness. After about 4 tries we found the Farmacia (operated by the monks since the 13th century) and I bought a new perfume, and then we headed to the S.M.N. church which was nice but I wish I had remembered more of my art history classes to really be a good guide.
We had lunch then (turkey and potatoes for Steve, a half-bottle of wine (which is bigger than it looks!) for me along with pappa al pomodoro and beans for me, and then we wandered off to the Accadamia, stopping through the San Lorenzo market first, gawking at how the city picks up its recycling (a truck comes and picks up this big bin that actually goes beneath the ground and empties it into the truck, which is cool for reasons I can't probably articulate here. The movie is getting slightly intriguing.)
We headed through the Ospedale deglia Innocenti and went to the Accademia so Steve could see the David. Either it's the museum or it was the holiday or something else but the spot was remarkably uncrowded for what a famous work of art it is, so I got to enjoy it once again and Steve loved it too (probably especially because I yelled at 2 people who took photos even though everyone was explicitly told not to. Dummies.) We also enjoyed an exhibit of the sculptures of Lorenzo Bartolini, AKA this guy.
Afterwards we wandered around the Duomo but the city was
super-full thanks to the All Saints Day holiday. We stopped so I could have the
world's tiniest brie/arugular/prosciutto sandwich and then we relaxed at the
Palazzo Signora with some drinks and postcards to write. We found a restaurant
I had recorded in my old Georgetown journals called Acqua al'Due for dinner but
before we could eat we killed some time at a bar called Naimi that was a
college bar (I'm talking Michigan, Penn State, etc). It was empty when we were
there but the bartender told us it gets crazy around 10:30. I asked if they've
ever seen the Jersey Shore kids and
he said that they asked to come in and film when they were in town but he said
no. Then "Nothing Compares 2 U" came on over the speakers and I almost cried and then "Time After Time" came on and I definitely did cry.
When we got to Acqua al'Due I didn't remember it at all, plus I didn't love my food (artichoke/mushroom risotto and spinach omelet) that much and I didn't find our waiter super friendly. But Steve really liked his sweet pepper pasta so that was the good news.
Our last day here tomorrow!