Mercado Centrale

One of our highlights in Firenze is not the art galleries or Ponte Vecchio or even the Duomo. It’s the central food market, Mercado Centrale. Surrounded by street stall hawking leathers and t-shirts, it can easily go unnoticed. But if you’re any kind of foodie or have an interest in Italian culture, do not miss it.

The Mercado is a perfect market. Indoor, very comfortable, even reasonably quiet. Simply a great place to go shopping. Fruit and veggies on the second floor. Meats and cheese predominate the first floor. It’s a shock to my limited American diet, the variety of stuff they have. Wines and vinegars, sure. Pasta made on premises. Dried and cured meats of dizzying variety. A 20 pound stack of pig’s ears here, beef tongue there. Whole rabbits and chicken’s heads. Liver, tripe and heart. Whole eels. Tails from who-knows-what beast. And I’m not asking.

Claudio at the coffee bar recommended his favorite shop for cheese and sausage. We gladly procured a kilo of aged parmeggiano reggiano. Not one or two, but three years old. Score! Toss in some piccante sausage and we’re done. Our only suggestion is to do your meat shopping at the start of your trip. Unless you’re prepared to beat off US customs with that two-foot sausage, they’ll take it away from you. Now we know.

Toscana in Bici

Oof. A quick post here before returning to the therapeutic pool, and beverages. Biking Tuscany is a beating. Jeff and I rode 65 kilometers yesterday, including about 200 meters of flat roads. Georgeous country, weather, nice drivers and always great company. Nonetheless, by the end our legs were on strike and we were ready for a break. Barb did great today with about 40k of riding. 0 meters of flat. As they say, half of it's downhill.

Ciao Roma

Kurt and Barb have been travelling since Tuesday, 9-5. Now is Friday and we've been in Rome a few days. Great stuff.

What works:
- The sights. Yesterday it was the forum, colesseum, pantheon, spanish steps, trevi fountain. Today the Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's cathedral. And we snuck onto to tour through the pope's crypts. Saw John Paul II and a load of other former pope's resting places. A highlight! In short, it's a old city and had to be super rich around 0-400 A.D. Judging from all the super massive ruins that are everywhere.

- The language. Kurt studied italiano molto. And it's paying off. We can get our point across more often than not. It should come even more important as we move from the big city.

- Kurt's man-pri's. Male capri pants are everywhere here, but we couldn't find them in the US. So Kurt made a quick pair and he's wearing nothing else. Well, you know what I mean.

- We got slotted into a internet cafe finally. Yo, Dude!

What doesn't:

- We don't like the heat, but we have developed good coping methods involving sidewalk cafes in the shade. Tutto ombre, sempre ombre!

- Who loves tourists. But Kurt's never been to Roma, so we're paying the price. Winter visits are recommended to avoid crowds.

- Frigginà italian keyboards! The ò is where the ' should be. The - replaces ?. And what the heck is all this: çòàèéì€ eeeeek.

a presto.