Then, during the 1966 floods, and now, as we saw it.
FLORENCE
Florence is my favorite of the 3 big cities. Even though it was crowded, it didn't seem as full as Venice and Rome, making it more accessible in my mind. I also have a fascination with the outside of the Duomo. We had an absolutely wonderful guide through the Uffizi Gallery who made the paintings come alive. It is such a massive place that one could easily lose interest, but not so for us. Our guide only stopped to talk about the paintings that were truly important to the period for one reason or another, allowing us to really take the education in. This was my second time in Florence, and I'd love to go again.
Florence was the site of our favorite meal. Following the suggestion in the guidebook, we went to Ristorante del Fagioli, a very small family-run establishment. There were four of us, so we asked the owner to bring us food he thought we'd enjoy. We didn't know how much wine to order, so he said he'd bring the bottle and only charge us for what we drank. Sounded like a good deal to us. We drank it all, of course. The food courses started with two kinds of bread soup, both delicious and thick. Next was a plate of lemony tasting meatballs and potatoes. The third course was a pounded steak in a tomato sauce, with wonderful mushrooms. We finished up with two types of cake and espresso. Makes my mouth water just thinking about it again.