FLORENCE DAY 2 -- 9/11/06

We start at the Duomo. We got up early to go climb the steps up to the top of the Duomo to get the view of the city. It's 463 steps to the top. They're steep steps and extremely narrow passageways that twist and turn their way through the dome. We don't recommend this as a top hangover cure.

The following recording is a condensed version of our climb. You can hear Liz's breathless voice say 'oh my god', once we finally reach the top. We almost died, but the view was spectacular.

Remember--Put your headphones on now!!

When we finally caught our breath, we went to see the meat and produce market at Mercato Centrale. It was a huge market with the most incredible meats you have ever seen in your life. And there were some exotic meats too, check out the veal brains! I especially like the sound of chopping beef in this recording. There were butchers everywhere, churning out big cuts non-stop with knives that were nearly 2 feet long.

The rest of our day was mostly eating and walking around Florence. We went to Brancacci Chapel and saw the famous frescoes there. We saw a lot of great street music. Later, we stumbled on a big crowd watching a guitar player and a singer playing hits from the '60's. It was a little strange. Here are a series of recordings for you to enjoy. Note that the 'Bass Solo' recording was taken by Liz. It's her first binaural recording of the trip. It's a really nice one. Lastly I had to put up a little video again. This time it's of 'Theremin Girl'. We couldn't believe it when we found a girl playing theremin on the street. A cute, Italian girl rocking a theremin in the middle of a piazza late Monday night. You just don't see that! Hope you like the sounds.

Violin and Accordian Duo:

Guitar Player and Singer -- 'Imagine':

Liz's first recording--Bass solo is amazing!

Sorry, we don't have pictures of this.

Theremin Girl!!!!

By the way, please remember to send us more comments by clicking the 'send us an email' link on the homepage. we've received a few and have posted them to the comments page which you can also access from the homepage. We really want to know what everyone thinks of this project, and what your favorite recordings are. Thanks. We are off to Bologna by train today. Our next entry will be on the Bologna page. You can access all of the pages in Binworld from the BinWorld Map.

Stay tuned for the food wrap-up for today......

Our feasting began with lunch at Il Ghibellini, a restaurant located in a pretty little piazza, and specializing in incredible pizzas. We shared two pies, one with Prosciutto, mushrooms, mozzarella cheese and tomato sauce, the other with buffalo mozzarella, oregano and fresh, thick slices of tomato. Each pie was amazing, with crunchy thin crust, and a perfect balance of toppings. Though we decided that New York pizza does stand up to these Italian pizza delights, what we felt really set Italian pizza apart was the freshness of the ingredients. The oregano tasted as if it were just picked from the garden, the mozzarella as if it had been prepared that morning. The use of such high quality ingredients really makes eating a pleasure.

Dinner was at an amazing restaurant called Omero's. Located about 15 minutes outside of the city center, it overlooked beautiful rolling hills (see pictures above) and seemed miles away from the bustling Firenze. We began with a dish of baby artichokes cooked in garlic and lemon and then "preserved" in olive oil. The artichokes were very tender and had a subtle, buttery flavor that was unlike any artichoke I had ever tasted. For our "primi piatti" I had fresh Pappardelle with a rabbit ragu. The succulent pieces of bunny were bursting with flavor, and after several bites I was completely absorbed in the deliciousness of the dish. Matt had a wonderful, comforting Tuscan bean soup, rich with barley, barlotti and white beans, potatoes, carrots onions and celery.

For our secondi piatti, I had a thick cut veal chop, roasted and served with thinly sliced Porcini mushrooms. It was really tasty, but nothing compared to Matt's chicken, which we both decided was certainly the best chicken we had ever tasted, and probably that best chicken on earth. The half chicken, bone in, was flattened and grilled to perfection. The skin was as crispy as the pizza crust we had eaten for lunch, and the meat was tender and packed with flavors of fresh herbs and salty scrumptiousness. As a side dish, we shared a plate of fried vegetables, the highlight of which was the zucchini flowers, crispy, chewy with a very delicate zucchini aftertaste.

Dessert was a lemon cake with an orange sauce, and a cheesecake make with ricotta cheese and served with a strawberry sauce. Probably the best cheesecake ever. Barnone.

And now, we are off to Bologna, the food capital of Italy. If you thought we we've been eating a lot so far, wait 'till we get to Bologna...it's going to be scary!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

FLORENCE DAY 1 -- 9/10/06

Our first day in Florence did not start out well. We missed most of it because the local train from Rome takes a solid four hours to get to the station in Firenze. And within minutes of leaving the station, as we were walking to our hotel, Liz's wallet got stolen. Just snatched right out of her purse. We lost about 200 EURO and all of her credit cards, plus a NY driver's license. Not a good start to say the least.

But we didn't let it get us down to much. We are staying in a strange, but beautiful hotel owned by a couple from Australia. The owner was extremely sympathetic to our situation and helped Liz make the appropriate phone calls to fix it. Anyways, we made the most of our evening by dining at Il Latini where we had the best T-Bone steak imaginable.

As for the recordings, there wasn't too much to capture in our first night. The only thing I thought was interesting was how different the sonic landscape is here than in Rome. I have two examples below. The first recording shows how Florence can have the loud, outdoor bars and lounges the same as Rome, but when you turn the corner it is usually very quiet. Most of the streets here were quiet and empty last night. Both recordings are good examples of a much emptier, softer city soundscape than what we found in Rome.

Here is the second recording:

The picture above is actually the door to out hotel. It's like being in a castle. The thing weighs a thousand pounds.

And now take it away Miss Elisabeth......

Matt and I were so full from our previous day of eating, that we were not ready to eat again until dinner--considering the feast that took place last night, we are glad we held out.

Dinner was at Il Latini, a famous and very popular restaurant in Florence. The restaurant does not take reservations so we stood on a long line for about an hour before we entered the restaurant. Inside, we encountered dozens of giant hams hanging from the ceiling and we knew right away this was going to be our kind of place. As you can see from the picture above, seating is communal, and we were paired with a lovely Italian couple from Torino, Italy. Upon sitting down, we were served a giant bottle of house red wine, and almost immediately the antipasto arrived--a big chunk of salami and slices of beautiful prosciutto, pale pink and streaked with fat, it melted in our mouths, salty and delicious. There was also bruschetta with tiny diced tomatoes, and liver pate and a plate of bright red tomatoes with mozzarella cheese. After tasting the mozzarella, our Italian friends advised us to pour olive oil over the tomatoes and cheese. We dutifully added the oil and it made the dish come alive with an incredible fruity flavor, full of depth and deliciousness.

We moved on to a soup course-Ribollita, a thick Italian soup made with cooked and mashed bread, cabbage, onions and other goodies. Matt had a fagioli (bean) soup with farro grain. Both were wonderful. Our main course was the real showstopper, a giant T-Bone steak, Bistecca alla Fiorentina, a specialty in Florence. Char grilled on the outside and very (very!) rare on the inside, this steak was the steak of all steaks, beefy to perfection.

For dessert, biscotti with nuts, a port-like sweet wine, Muscato wine and a Semifreddo with cream and chocolate-basically a dome of cake filled with whipped cream and chocolate mousse. Needless to say, we were stuffed. After taking a picture with our partners in feasting, we bid them farewell and moved on.