Ms J Fünfzig

I recently turned 50, and this is what happened. IG at "_ladybird_johnson"

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5-03-2018 - Last full day in Florence

It may be my last full day, bit it’s my first morning at the Villa La Vedetta breakfast buffet! What?

Course 1 - pastry, cappuccino and prosecco

Course 2 - Small breakfast cereal

Course 3 - eggs, bacon, salad and another cappuccino

Course 4 - Fruit and yoghurt

We sat in this quiet room, that looks out over the city, with soft house music playing. It was a nice spot to read the morning paper.

[msj-funfzig]

5-02-2018 Dinner at Onice Lounge, Villa La Vedetta.

In the basement of the hotel is this renowned local restaurant that focuses on upscale Tuscan dishes.

I sat down for dinner in the small dining room and was immediately served a small glass of Prosecco. Love that!

This is their menu:

It didn’t take long to figure out what I wanted to eat. On top of that, since I had been wine tasting a few days before, I was craving more of that intense Chianti regional wine. So naturally I ordered a whole bottle FOR MYSELF! WOOOOO!

In short order I had an Amuse Buche, fresh rolls with local olive oil and balsamic vingear choices, and my glass of prosecco. I was already in love with this place. The bread, olive oil, and vinegar were delicious!

And my bottle of wine, which was amazing!! Fruity, a little dry, and done complex dark fruit notes. So well blended too!

For a first course I had the Escalope of Goose Fois Gras

I almost don’t need to mention at this point that the fois gras is like lightly gamey butter. It literally melts in your mouth. It’s so delicious!

After that I had the traditional Tuscan cheese and antipasti plate. I saw someone else have this, and I had to try it!

Now I’m a serious cheese plate addict.

I love cheese in all its magnificent forms. When combined on a plate with meat, sweet accessories. Olives, and fresh bread or crackers... well I go crazy for it. I could subsist on this alone. The seemingly endless array of flavor combinations is enchanting.

Next came Fillet Mignon simmered in Baileys. Who doesn’t like the combination of meat and liquor?

The steak was increadible tender. The Baileys added a thick, sweet element. I did find that a bit heavy, but it went well with the meat bits.

At this point in the meal I was decently drunk. A full bottle of wine is a lot to handle by myself. My dad would have been very proud of me. It was both comforting and disturbing to know that I can do this.

I was also armed with the excuse that I was going to be doing a lot of whisky drinking soon, so I better get used to it.

At the last, in what seemed a lapse of judgement, I ordered the Tira Misu.

I sure didn’t need to eat any more, but this is probably the best Tira Misu I have ever had. Absolutely amazing. The bottom layer was soaked in alcohol, yet retained its sponge, and the very light coffee flavored frosting on the side was so good. It was absolutely amazing!!

I also had a shot of espresso, and maybe a glass of desert wine? I’m fond of these. I was impress by the sheer amount of money I spent on dinner for one, and I see these items on the bill. LOL

This was an incredible meal over all, and after I was done I was so happy, stuffed, honored, and drunk. I was going to take a walk, but it started to rain. So I ended this day, and climbed into bed.

[msj-funfzig]

5-02-2018 Florence. Hotel change.

Today was the day I had a scheduled time slot to go to the Ufizi Museum, and also was going to change hotels.

I got up as usual, and had my morning 5 course meal at the buffet. Then I checked out of the Bernini Hotel, got my advance ticket to the museum, and had my luggage held until I could return from the museum and head to my new hotel.

The posting on the Ufizi is already done below.

I had intended to try and get through the museum, and be done by 3pm. Then 4pm. Then 5pm.

I finally got back after 6pm. It’s an overwhelming place. After I got back, I collected my luggage, and had a cab take me to Villa la Vedetta.

My plan was to have my first four days right in the very heart of old Florence, and then move to a quiet villa up above the city.

This place is very quiet, with an amazing view, pool, and restaurant. I was also able to walk back down hill into town in about 10 minutes.

It also has a small roof top sitting area which allows you to look down onto the entire city below.

Since it was already about an hour and a half until dinner, and the room had a jacuzzi style bathtub... there was only one option open to me.

BUBBLE BATH!!!

And I’m not afraid to admit that I made a bit of a mess. My bubble bath skills were not prepared for the power of the water jets. Soon I had soap bubbles everywhere.

After all the bubbles and self indulgence, it was time to get dinner. This hotel has a restaurant renowned for its excellent Tuscan cuisine, and I was stoked.

Let’s eat!

[msj-funfzig]

5-01-2018 Dinner at Trattoria l’Parione

After my super fun bike following the outer road of old Florence, I asked the concierge at Bernini to recommend a Florentine restaurant and make me a reservation at 8pm. This was my default eating time.

My request for the restaurant type was the mat it be authentic, really good, local food.

It’s safe to say that the concierge nailed it!

Here is their menu

I chose 3 dishes that I thought would go well with some nice Chianti Classico wine. Since I had recently had that eye opening tour of Chianti wines, I was really excited to have more, and pair it with fantastic local cuisine.

First dish I had was the Artichoke “morellini” salad topped with fresh Parmesan.

This was amazing. The greens weee light and fresh with a light acidity, and the slabs of thin, fresh Parmesan were out of this world good. Add a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and it’s heaven. Add a good wine, and it’s food porn.

Typical of an Italuan meal, the next dish is pasta. I had been favoring the local Pici pasta, but tonight I was in a mood for new and inter local meat. So I had the Wild Boar Tagliatelle:

Wow, is this good! Rich, and lightly gamey, it goes so well with a fresh made pasta. I totally inhaled it, and my wine. They were a prefect match. The cheese on top gave it a subtle zing at the top of the pallet.

Next up is Braised Veal Cheek with Mashed Potatoes

Yet another amazing dish. It fit in very well with the prior pasta dish. All the lovely fatty flavors blended with the simple mashed potatoes. The meat was richly flavored, with dark, fruity seasoning. Very Italian to my taste, and of course it required it own glass of Chianti Classico reserve. This is normally served in an even larger glass so it can breath.

Finally, because I’m just an absolute pig on this trip, I had desert. This was a molten chocolate soufflé, with a rich melted center. It was so damn good!

This was an exceptional meal over all, and I really felt like I got a deep look into traditional food. Not just st that, but really good local flavors that were like their wines... dark, with fruity flavors, and a light seeetness to carry all the powerful spices that make up fine Italian dining.

On my way out, I grabbed a quick snapshot of the semi open kitchen, which said a lot about this amazing place, and really caught a glimpse of its atmosphere. I got to watch this kitchen from where I sat, and it was so fast moving. They seemed on the edge of utter chaos, yet turned out amazing food with intense attention to detail and flavor.

[msj-funfzig]

5-01-2018 Pictures from my bike ride around Florence II

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5-01-2018 Pictures from my bike ride around Florence I

[msj-funfzig]

8.0 mi Ride Activity on May 1, 2018

[msj-funfzig]

5-01-2018 Un giorno a Firenze in bicicletta

Today I decided to rent a bike and ride around the outer perimeter of old Florence.

I need to state also, quite strongly here, that as far as being a tourist goes, there is no better way to see a city than on a bike. It is the ultimate!!

After my usual no holds barred assault on the buffet, I had a brief shower and set out for the closest bike rental place (with the highest rating). It's all about how many stars something has...

And I rented this speed machine (single speed, of course.)

Amusingly, when I asked the guy at the shop what the gearing was on the bike... he had no idea what I was asking about. LOL

Pictured after this are a selection of pics I took on my phone, and the link to the route on Strava.

Shortly after I set out, it started to rain, but it was short lived, and I was able to ride it out with a cappuccino and a canolli.

Two thirds of my trip around, when I was at the main train station, it started raining again. It didn't really stop. I took shelter at one point and had coffee and pasta because I was starving, but I finally had to give in and return the bike an hour early.

[msj-funfzig]

4-30-2018 Wine tasting part 3. Fin.

After Casa Emma, Antony asked me if I wanted to go to another winery...

Do I? Does the sun come up?

So off we went. First we stopped for a quick picture in Castellina in Chianti.

All the choices were his. And our next stop was a winery that has a good deal more offerings. It was also a bit under assault from tourists. That's no bother. I was happy to chat with them and take a look around. I discovered that this winery also made Gin!

The winery was called Rocca Della Masie

And this is their gin, which is a London Dry Gin, flavored with the botanicals from the Chianti grapes.

Note all the red roosters to designate an official and sanctioned Chianti Classico. (Above)

Here I ended up testing a number of things, the best being the oldest of their Chinati Classico.

However, I ended up taking home their desert wine, which I really adored. Light, sweet, yet with a balance of geeen fruits. Loved it.

Next we drove to our last winery. It was now about 5pm, so it was a fast stop

This is Castellari di Castellina

Here I went through a quick flight of wines, but was either too tipsy, tired, or still too blown away with Casa Emma. In either case, I took only their desert win. LOL.

At this point, I had no intention of flying with it. Rather, I planned to drink it at my last dinner in Italy. It was the size of a standard 375ml half bottle.

At 7pm, I was back in my hotel, and ready to freshen up for dinner. What a brilliant day!

[msj-funfzig]

4-30-2018 - Wine tasting part 2, Casa Emma vineyard.

This proved to be a monumental experience.

Emma is a common female name in Tuscany.

We pulled in, and Antony went in to get me sorted. In short order I was seated at a small table, outside, away from the common folk (LOL), and over looking the vineyards below.

My experience here was to be a full Italian meal paired with tastings of their wine. Oooooh! I could hardly contain my excitement! And I also explained to my awesome hostess that this trip was in part an homage to my Father, and as I explained my history of wine with him, I began to cry a little

So the first course was bread, cheese, salami and cured ham. A very Tuscan thing. And we oairedvthat with their rose. Now this is NOT like the crappy rose concert in the states. It's not a blend of any kind. Here it is a 100 Chianti Classico graphic that has only been in the barrel aging for about 7 weeks. As a result the color is very light, and the flavors are crisp and bright. But there is a complexity here that is quite amazing. It really was a treat to drink, and I had 2 glasses!

The olive oil they make themselves on premises. It's cold press, extra virgin (!) The balsamic is made from the grapes they grow, but they send it off for processing. They were amazing! I have never had olive oil like that.

First course:

By the way, here is their placemat, which shows their vineyard and wines.

I sat and slowly sampled the cheeses and meat bits, and watched the clouds move slowly across the vineyard below. They made awesome shadow art. And then came the next course, along with their first level Chianti Classico.

The dish was a home made pasta made from crushed grape leaves ( it was dark red). It had a meat sauce that had that lovely, rich, Italian flavor to it I was really growing fond of.

Then came the third course, a pork dish with chunks of carrot and potato. The sauce was mostly from the meat itself with some great spices and a bit of balsamic in there.

And then came the fourth course, desert. This was a chocolate cake with a light raspberry sauce. It had a good bake, with a lovely sponge. I could see the layers. Scrummy! This came with a super smooth, Classico reserve that had been aged the longest. Low on Tanins, it had a full body and smooth taste. It was great!

At this point in the lunch, I was pretty tipsy, headed towards drunk. And as happens when one goes wine tasting, the more you taste, the more you have to order. So by now I had decided (much as I'm sure my Father did) that I had to ship a full case of wine home. And then I decided I needed to ship a half case each to my sister and brother who had birthdays near mine. So by the time I was done, I shipped over a thousand euros of wine, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil to myself and family. And I sure I'm not done with this vineyard yet. It proved to be the best of all the ones I visited.

Me with all the receipts

I'm just who they need to show up. I like wine, I got drunk, and I have a credit card.

Nice thing is.... I did not make a huge mistake.😃👍🏼

[msj-funfzig]

4-30-2018 Wine tasting in Florence's Chianti region - Part 1

Wine tasting? Oh hell yes! I could not wait to get this day started. I had hired a private driver, and was set to leave at 10am. I did the usual 5 course grazing at the morning buffet, had a fast shower, and was off!

I should say at the outset that my father, and also my mom, were foremost in my mind for this. My father was a huge wine enthusiast, with an elaborate wine cellar, his own small vineyard, and delighted in making his own wine. This was in addition to traveling often in wine tasting tours, where he would ship many cases of wine home.

So this was an immensely personal thing for me.

At 10am, with sunscreen on and camera in tow, I met Antony, my driver. Of course, since Bernini made the reservation, he was in a suit, and drove a black Mercedes. Nailed It!

Antony at Michelangelo Plaza, our first stop:

After this first, rather obligatory tourist view stop (It is lovely), we were off to our first winery.

This is the view from The Piazza Michelangelo

We wound our way up into the Florentine hills past all these fantastic villas (One happens to be a hotel I would be at for the last 2 nights in Florence, Villa Valedetta). I saw a few serious cyclists riding around up here, and I kept thinking how much fun it would be to ride here. The views are amazing, and the climbing is no joke. There is lots of it to be had. And plenty of flat riding too. Its a bit of a cycling heaven, and I can tell they take it seriously here.

Our first stop was in a small town called Greve (in Chianti). It’s a small town seeped in wine and cycling. There were a bunch of cyclist that had obviously been climbing all morning just pulling in, and me pulling in in the Mercedes with a driver. So... first thing was to have a glass of wine, of course. Antony made a recommendation, and I made a selection at a wine vending machine. LOL. Such a fine idea. So I sat in the town square and had a quick glass.

Here I also bought a cycling jersey and discovered that there is an annual race that occurs each October. Peoeple race vinatage (Nothing allowed pre 1980) bike up from Florence to this town in whatever weather they get. There is a wool jersey related to it. This got me really excited, and I want to return and do it!

And I found this sign in the town square, which also got me excited to return and bike here. Single speed FTW!

And from the shop I bought the jersey from

On the way to the first winery, I was obliged to pull over and take one more tourist photo... because you have to. This is the Chianti Rooster, the symbol that is on all sanctioned Chianti wines that allow it the distinction of being from this region and bearing the title “Chianti Classico” which has strict rules governing its blend and herritage.

From here, it was a pleasant drive through the wine country to our first, and most major, stop. I should note that all these vineyards also have olive groves. Most of them also make their own olive oil.

[msj-funfzig]

4-29-2018 Firenze- dinner at Locale

Ok! Had an amazing dinner last night. The concierge at Bernini booked me for an 8pm dinner at a restaurant called "Locale"

After being treated to the customary starter Proseco, I sat down for the first course: Goose Pate.

This was like eating goose flavored butter, with a very delicate crunch on the outer layer. One stunning appetizer. The crustini and the sweet fruit sides were mouth watering!

Then, as one does in Florence, I had round two- pasta. In this case, it is Maine Lobster in a light butter sauce. I really could taste the lobster even though it came from a really long way!

After that came the main dish, braised pork with a light mashed potatoe . I had this with a side of fresh grilled seasonal vegetables.

I did my new routine of white wine and red to match the course I was eating. In this case, I switched to a Chianti Classico for the red meat dish, and had white for the first two.

After all this, there was no way I could actually have a desert, so I settled instead on a nice desert wine.

This was one fantastic meal!!

[msj-funfzig]

4-29-2018 Florence. Cantinetta Verrazzano and Gelateria Perche No!

After all the walking, and a comment that this was the best wine and food cafe in Florence, I insisted that we eat here:

One of the things that really blew my mind was that the owner was utterly mad about cycling! So here, in one place, were all the things I could ever want! Great food, good coffee, great wine, and a love of cycling! Amongst all the displays of wine and food were all these bikes and homages to cycling! Amazing!!

This tie between cycling and wine in the Chianti region would come back to several more times the following day when I went wine tasting. I know that Napa in the US has a loose affiliation with cycling, but here its pretty hard core, and its done right. For the record, the roads here are in near perfect shape everywhere, the climbing and scene ray is stunning, and Napa really cant hold a candle to this.

Anyways, here is the meal, and me enjoying it. We had a few different types of wine, and that traditional Tuscan dish of amazing hams and salamis with increadible cheese. None of the meat has any preservatives. It an all natural process. Most of the cheese here is Sheeps milk cheese, and there are over 400 types here in Tuscany alone.

And afterwards we went right across the street to this Gelato shop that has been in business since 1939. It’s purported to be one of the best in town, and all the locals go here.

This gelato was so gooooood!

I would fly back to Florence just to recreate this meal again.

I’m in love with this place!

[msj-funfzig]

4-29-2018 Firenze day 1!

I’m in Florence? What the...!

I think that was my waking thought. This is such a nice departure from the normal first thought to cross may conscious mind. It usually more like” “Oh, fuck!”

Right.

First order of business is the buffet. I had started a tradition at the buffets that is a 5 course meal.

Course 1- cereal, double cappuccino, and juice

Course 2- Eggs and bacon and more juice

Course 3- Anouther double cappuccino, and whatever pastry looks good to go along with coffee. This course can also feature any local specialty of the area I am in. In Korea it was Dim Sum or light noodle soup. In Vietnam it was veggie such in and spring rolls.

Course 4- Fruit. Raid the fruit section of the buffet and get fruit salad, peaches, pears, and

Course 5- Small salad, and cheeses, and a yoghurt. In Florence this also included a class of Prosecco.

The hotel Bernini Palace is a famous landmark into itself and this is the old Parlimant Room in Florence. The ceiling frescos are all original. Portraits of 15th century fellows stare down as you eat breakfast, and there is a little balcony at one end. In my mind, this is where someone would go to make pronouncements to those below. No one did that now, and it seemed pretty flimsy, so I’d be surprised if anyone did.

After breakfast I had an agenda in mind, so I freshened up, and went right to the Concierge, Lorenzo. He is awesome! He will setup, in the finest manner, anything you wish! So I dictated several demands based on a sheet of recommended activities the hotel provided.

“I want a private walking tour today. I would like a car and a driver for a full day wine tasting tour tomorrow, and I will require an advance ticket to the Uffizi museum for Wednesday.”

“Yes sir. I will arrange a guide for this afternoon. What time would like the car to pick you up? And what time would you like to go to the museum on Wednesday?”

Within the hour, he had sorted all of this out, plus dinner reservations for that night. I was to meet my walking Tourguide in the early afternoon, and he bought me an advance ticket to go the the Museum of Academia where Michelangelo’s statue of David resides.

[msj-funfzig]

4-28-2018. Arrived Florence.

After transiting through Frankfurt on my way to Florence, I learned a few lessons. If you have duty free, make damn sure you keep the receipt for it, which must be in the sealed bag with the item. This bit me, because I was dumb and didn't put it into the checked bag for my next flight, and so had to pay to check a second bag when they wouldn't let me through security with my expensive whisky.

Second mistake, I thought I bought a flex ticket that allowed me to board an earlier flight, but apparently Lufthansa has some fucked up micro passenger classes, and I didn't buy a flex ticket that would account for a checked bag. Glad I paid extra for that! Thanks Luftansa for making this impossible to figure out when buying tickets online.

Anyways. Recovered from those missteps, and arrived in Florence. It's a tiny airport, and you can't do things like buy a local SIM card like you can at Asian destinations.

Taxies charge a fixed rate to your hotel plus 1 euro per piece of luggage. At the time of my trip, the fixed price was 25 Euro. I met two delightful German ladies on a (no husbands) trip to Florence. After chatting with them, we decided to split a taxi fare to their hotel, then I would take a metered fare to my hotel. As luck would have it, my hotel was about 200 feet from theirs. So splitting the fare saved me 15 Euros!

I checked into my Hotel, The Bernini Palace, and was just delighted. It's fabulous. It's right smack in the middle of everything! Which also means it's deep in tourist hell. But I didn't mind. It's location is so central to everything I wanted to see and do.

I was just so ecstatic to be in Florence!

So I set out immediately to get sone cash, and get a local data sim. Nailed that within about an hour.

After that I had a bit of a walk, a shower, and went to meet the two ladies I met when I arrived for dinner. They were quite nice, and we had a lovely first meal sitting out on the main plaza near our hotels. We watched the tourists flick around like groups of pigeons.

After dinner, we made tentative plans to dine again the next night. I was exhausted and decided to turn in early after sorting out what my plan would be for the coming days.

[msj-funfzig]

4-27-2018 Last morning in Hanoi, departing to Florence.

I awoke early this morning, as Peter was on a morning flight, and I wanted to say my farewells to him. I had an evening flight, so I had some time to relax before I went anywhere. There is already a quick post below that mentions that I went to Chusa for one of their increadible egg rolls and craft beers in the mid afternoon.

When I stumbled down to graze on the buffet, Peter had, of course, already been up for at least an hour busily checking into places on Swarm. Swarm is the app we are using to track locations, buisinesses and restaurants that see visit. Its a light combination of social networking with geo tagging. You arrive at a place, confirm its location on Swarm, and then check into it with pictures and comments. It you check in often enough, or the most times in total, you become the mayor. I think Peter and I got rather addicted to this. Plus what’s really fun is you can zoom out to a map of the world, see where you have been, and sort by date, type of place, etc. It’s really fun! It’s a spin off of Four Square.

I tend to get a bit wrestless on travel days, so I decided to go to the airport a good deal early. Plus I was flying buisiness class, so I fantasized about spending hours in the Vietnam airlines buisiness lounge, grazing on their buffet and amenities. (A review of that lounge is already done earlier in this blog)

Turns out I got to the airport so far in advance it was hours before I could even check in. So... my solution was to have an hour foot and back massage, followed by a nice bowl of pho.

So my massage required I awkwardly change into unflattering unisex shorts, no top or shoes. I looked great!

Super airport fashion!

And then the massage... it was it a Kung Fu attack. This guy was brutal. Punching, jabbing, and smashing my legs around. I made it through, but I was sore for a full day! Thanks brutal masseur!

I finally got to check in, spend time in the lounge with terrible food, but I got to fly buisiness.. that was amazing! I slept like a baby.

[msj-funfzig]

The Ufizi Museum, Florence.

This, by all accounts, is the museum to go to out of the some 400+ museums in Florence. I bought an advance ticket, and even the queue for those ticket holders is madness.

I think I actually benefitted here from being just me. I'm very good at weasling my way through crowds fast.

I was at the Ufizi from 11:30 until it closed at 7pm. And I skipped all the Roman sculpture stuff. I grabbed a quick guide book so I could read about select paintings in each room. The Ufizi generally covers pre-renaissance, and early to late renaissance painting from Florence and some surrounding areas. (Generally starting around 1410 up to about 1650) There are some seriously priceless pieces on display, and you can get right up close to them. I had the best time!

Michelangelo's one known painting is really something to behold. The two Da Vinci paintings are increadible, and all in all, it's a fascinating trip through this time period in the heart of where it happened.

Plus I was able to ease drop on a number of tours that were passing through in English, so I got some good tidbits about the important pieces. And one thing I learned in my trip... Michelangelo was gay! Lovely! Here is proof: check out these guys in the back right of his painting.

Completely naked, one with his arm around the other. Sorry, it doesnt get much gayer than this! On top of this, the English tour guide I ease dropped on described the Madonna in the picture as very masculine, strong, and with a muscular body. The evidence goes on and on.

Anyways... here are some of my favorites.

I love the concepts of early perspective, and this has it in spades. And check these out. Of special note is the last panel where the saint is fleeing the city by boat, and it has the "fishbone" perspective effect.

And then there is this one:

Such an astonishing crowd. The guy on the right who is painted in dark grey tones is the person who comissioned the work, and who died before it was finished. On the left is a portrait of the artist staring out at you.

And here are the best known portraits from the renaissance era, a duke and dutchess. She is fascinating to me for the style of the time. Very high forehead, and no eye brows. In fact I was informed this was the style back then for ladies...shaved forehead and eyebrows. The background is a meticulously painted scene of a real location that would have been familiar back then. Equally amazing to me is the back of these that show the triumphant arrival of the family scepter. Just as they faced each other in the portrait, thd charriots ride towards each other. His is the one riding towards the right. Her horses are brown unicorns! I'm jealous!

And another type of painting I can't get enough of is Medieval or Renaissance allegory paintings. This is one of the few I saw. Love it!

Since all I have to compare this museum to is the Museum of Academia, I can only say that this was my favorite of the two. Other posts will deal with what I did on those days, including the other museum, and I’m quite happy that I can have lots to explore as I visit Florence again and again in the comming years. There is so much history here, its just awe inspiring. I frequently caught myself saying “Holy @#%^! I’m in FLORENCE!”