Florence Food Tour

Our first full day in Florence, we spent the morning at Mercato Centrale.  Despite being a magnet for tourists like us, we beat the crowds and enjoyed a quieter atmosphere.  I wanted the kids to taste the tuscan bean soup I had years ago and loved.  But I got confused and realized too late we were eating tripe instead.  The kids actually enjoyed it though I never told them what they were actually eating.

In the afternoon, we met at a bakery for a food tour.  The Yule Log cakes looked incredible though we were too few people to buy one for Christmas Day.  We learned how most Florentine desserts are not sweet since traditionally sugar was hard to come by.

We walked around fruit and vegetable sellers which appeared as pop stands on most corners.  It's easy to see how one would only buy for a day or two and how fresh vegetables are such a staple in the diets here.

The locals prepared for the Feast of Seven Fishes as the monger walked us through the seafood options.

Next we stopped in a Forno, the bakeries where locals buy breads.



and a few not-sweet cookies...

We sat down in a huge wine shop which focuses only on Italian wines and tried charcuterie.

Then quickly paused at the oldest truffle shop for a glass of prosecco and a truffle cream sandwich, and ended with of course, gelato.

Completely stuffed, we returned to the apartment to relax and read and then ventured out for more food...pizza!

Christmas In Italy

We drove to Florence for Christmas week with the plan to eat, enjoy some art, eat more, and relax.  I planned one event each day to give us the space to sleep late and watch movies. We drove 6 hours the first day landing in a small town in Northern Italy, Trevisio so we could spend a morning in Venice before heading down.  However, high waters forced us to skip Venice and go straight to Florence.

Our Air B and B sat on a small street one block from the Duomo.  The first day we explored our neighbourhood  and hit the market.

 

From Owen

          This year has been a very interesting, happy, fun, and full of new adventures type of year. Some of the things that I would highlight over the past year are basketball camp, going back to the United States, going to the WWE event with my dad, hiking the biggest mountain, using public transportation to get to and from soccer practice, going to London, England, going to Florence/Venice/Treviso, Italy, going to Prague, Going to museums with my mom {Alebertina} and eating croissants, and playing golf in Donegal, Ireland. The two classes that I was in were/are, Mrs. Enge, and Mrs. Kuykendaul's classes. My favourite teacher out of those two is by far Mrs. Kuykendaul. Momentarily I am in fifth grade so I am in Mrs. Kuykendaul's class. Some of my friends are Micheal, Christopher, Zachary and Connor. Some of the things that I have liked in fifth grade have been how you can present things with other people and one of the projects that I did was on a sea turtle that was endangred and we had to give interesting facts about our endangered animal. My partners in the project were Ilya, and Connor. That project did not turn out to be what we hoped for but it was very fun. Another thing that we get to do that makes Mrs. Kuykendaul's class so fun is that we get to pick are partners during little group stuff like reading groups or math groups. The images on the screen are the Hawksbill sea turtle project.    

Thanksgiving in Prague

We drove to Prague on Thanksgiving for a quick overnight trip.  We walked around the beautiful city after a delicious steak dinner.  The next day we did a food tour in an area of the city away from the main attractions.  We used a small company owned by a couple and it was one of the best tours we have done.

We began in a small bakery and learned what food most people eat to start their day.

We then went to a Soviet styled bar and learned about Pragues beer-making culture.

and the foods they eat with the beer

the bar had postcards they would send to anywhere on the world

Then we had our main lunch in a new style kitchen that is remaking traditional Czech foods.

Lastly, we enjoyed sweet dumpling with berries.

Last Day in Crete: Aptera

We spent our last morning in Crete at Aptera, an archaeological site from a Minoan City-State from the 14th century BC.

We ended the day watching Game 2 and enjoying our last Greek meal.