In Florence with Madame Jane

There is one woman to blame for all of this you know ... I owe my new international lifestyle to a longtime exotic adventurer and fellow ex-pat geo, Madame Jane Allen!


International Women of Mystery on tour!

Janey has been trying to get me over to West Africa for years, and now that she has finally succeeded, we've discovered that from time to time our R&R breaks are going to coincide! So this time - as luck would have it - we were both thinking Italy ... so naturally, I joined Jane in Firenze, the heart of Italian art, food and wine culture.

We started our days wandering around the nicely compact city in the May sunshine, and navigating by our position relative to the Duomo, not bad hey?


Colourful Duomo

Jane had found a fantastic apartment on the square next to the Medici Chapel, and every morning, afternoon, and evening as we stepped out we were confronted by the leather markets barely a metre from our front door. Running the gauntlet (that's for you Modge!) became a bit tiresome, but we tried on some very handsome leathergoods, and although I made no purchases, Jane managed to find a couple of rather choice handbags.


Medici Chapel

And you know where the Medici Chapel is, right? Just around the corner from the central food market. Oh yes, so Jane and I started our day in proper Florentine fashion with ...


...a coffee at the counter

Followed by a casual stroll through the markets sampling a food-whore's ultimate array of smallgoods, meats, handmade pasta, vegetables, bread, vinegars and all good things to eat and drink!


A spot of shopping at the market

Travelling with Jane was an absolute delight I must say, because as it turns out we had a similar attention span for galleries, shopping and coffee breaks. And as she had had a few days ahead of my arrival and had just finished reading a book all about Michaelangelo and the Medici family, she was an awesome guide.

We spent a diverting morning at the Uffizi Galleries, almost managing to miss the Botticellis and the Da Vinci room (don't ask - two geos without a map, highly embarrassing!) which is what everyone wants to see, and certainly well worth trudging back down the corridors for.


Ponte Vecchio from the Uffizi

Fortunately the gallery cafe has everything a weary art lover needs to keep the spirits from flagging when confronted by so many masterpieces.


Girls love cake!

In fact, Jane and I managed to dine very well whilst in town. A lovely traditional Tuscan restaurant gave us the opportunity to sample the housemade gnocchi gorgonzola (Jane) and wild boar fettucine (Ali), all washed down with a lightly sparkling local prosecco - just delicious! The same meal also led us to discover a regional specialty. The pâté that we'd seen on all the antipasto platters around town was also alive and well on our starter plate - Jane left it to me after a brief tasting and I have to admit it wasn't a flavour I recognised, nor could I say I really enjoyed it overly ...

So imagine how we reacted when we discovered that we'd been dining on ... you guessed it, spleen (!!!) the following morning in the bookshop. The poor salesman didn't know what to do with the two hysterically laughing women who had collapsed on his stacks of recipe books!

So from food to wine, a pleasure of life that Jane and I both share, and what better way to persue that pleasure than by hitting the bars with an expert.


Tuscan wine adventures with Riccardo

After an inauspicious start - we had trouble locating our meeting place (we really were on holidays - left all our skills back at the office) - we eventually met up with Riccardo, who writes regularly for an Italian wine guide. He was emphatic about reminding us that a 'guide' is only ever that - it is not, and should not ever be a rule book. So a well known expert, bon vivant, and, as it turns out, cracking good company took us to the enotecas!

He introduced us to the pleasures of Tuscan vermentinos, chianti classicos and a very delicious Sicilian syrah blend ... hmmmmm.


Tuscan treats

All enjoyed with a host of local cold cuts and a variety of differently aged and prepared pecorinos - we were in our element. So much so that when Riccardo left us in the last enoteca, the bar owners decided to treat us to a glass each of a wickedly delicious but perhaps a wee bit forte late harvest white sticky - you may imagine that the trip back home was a giggle-filled ramble.

Having so much to offer a visitor, I now understand why people are so enchanted by this wonderful Italian city, and why she is the heroine of so many novels and history books. Every corner hosts another lovely triumph of renaissance art and architecture.


Foyer of the Palazzo Vecchio

Even the rooftops are charming.


Roofs over Firenze

(Is it roofs or rooves? I think either is acceptable, somehow I prefer the way roofs looks in print ...)

Finally, and it pains me to tell you this, but after careful and diligent searching with my partner in crime Janey, I failed to find the perfect pair of shoes in Firenze (well I did, but they didn't have my size dammit! And I'm not quite worthy of Ferragamo yet - in time, in time) - unlike the fashion denizen below!


Serious boots

But ... what I did find - and quite by accident I might add (don't the best things in life always happen by accident?) - was a gorgeous, frivolous, fanciful, feminine, frothy green designer skirt that Jane and I just knew would be the perfect thing to wear to the perfume dinner in Paris the following week ...