The First Supper

Up to this point, the highlights of the trip have been sharing dinner over iChat with Isabella (she enjoyed lunch while we enjoyed dinner), eating amazing gelatto every day, and having the luxury of Skype in our apartment while waiting for our baggage.

Ladies and Gentlemen, uncross those fingers and put the prayer books away. Allie has finally been reunited with her luggage! After spending the morning unpacking, we were thrilled to finally be able to leave the apartment and head to Piazza Beccaria to indulge in a croissant. Allie could not wipe the smile off of her face until, during the five-minute walk, she discovered that a bird crapped on her hair. What is her luck! It has become par for the course these days. We laughed it off and moved on with our day.

To celebrate our new-found freedom in Florence, we showered, got beautified, and decided to treat ourselves to a FABULOUS dinner! (Note: Anyone who comes to Florence NEEDS to try Il Latini.) After a 45-minute walk, we found ourselves in an air-conditioned room in the back of the restaurant with two bottles of wine and fresh bread. The chef, Lucciano, made his way to our table and asked if we would be interested in antipasti. Our English-speaking waiter, Alessandro, explained to us that we could take advantage of the full four-course meal or pick individual items that we wanted. We were starving so we decided to go all out and eat everything that the restaurant had to offer.

The antipasti consisted of salami, prosciutto, fresh cantaloupe, risotto salad, caprese, and chicken liver on crostinis. We thought this was a full meal in itself. Lucciano then came back to our table and asked what kind of pasta we liked, and we quickly answered with "everything, give us all that you got!" so he came back with three dishes. The pasta dishes were bow tie pasta with mushrooms in a marsala sauce, spinach and riccotta ravioli in a marinara sauce, and penne in an amazing bolognaise sauce.

At this point we were enjoying a bottle of wine and made friends with the people sitting next to us. Kelly and Andy are from Oregon, and they were excited to discover that we were also from America. We chatted for a while and even took pictures with each other's cameras.

Ok, here comes the next course. We had the choice of almost any meat that you could imagine. We were so full, but we could not resist trying the roast beef, which was phenomenal! We also ordered a side of fresh spinach to compliment our meat.

Now, what you have all been waiting for, the list of desserts was presented to us. Allie chose the ice cream sundae while I chose the profiteroles. Who could pass up cream puffs soaked in chocolate! As a gift, Alessandro and Lucciano brought over two glasses of a sparkling white dessert wine, which was very tasty. They also surprised us with shots of limoncello, which the four of us took to cheers our new friendship. The bill process was very interesting. A man came over and just told us how much we owed without seeing what we ate...we got a deal!

The walk home took us half the time, and after a birthday call to Krystal, we were ready for bed. Arrivederci!