I forgot to mention that on Saturday we brought up the rear of the Ferrari Cavalcade in our sporty Fiat Panda.

On Sunday we headed to Panzano for a 1:00 reservation at Officina Della Bistecca. Navigating our way out of Florence to Panzano wasn't as easy as coming into the city on Saturday nor was getting back into the city but more on that later. The Tuscan scenery is much different than that of Langhe. It's not near as lush and green. Pretty in it's own way...cypress trees ect.

At lunch we were seated next to two Brazilian couples with 3 girls aging in range from 7 to 2. They were all crazy well behaved and eating beef tartar I might add. One guy is here on a 2 year assignment with UNICEF. Ron and I looked at each other and said, "that's a charity organization isn't it? Like for third world countries?" We're meant for each other that's for sure. He may be saving the world but all we wanted to discuss was the World Cup in Brazil next year. Just as we were finishing our meal with a delicious cake made with pine nuts, a couple from London arrived (3 hours late). I'm still not sure why they insisted on being seated as they missed out on the entire experience. Anyway, we got to chatting with them and discovered that they were at the tail end of their month long honeymoon throughout Italy. They had their 450 person wedding in Florence to keep the total number of attendees down. They are both from Dubai originally...need I say more?! Really fun couple who provided us with a few restaurant suggestions in Florence. Now more on to the meat dishes...basically it was raw meat dish after raw meat dish. Five BEEF dishes in total, culminating with Bistecca Fiorintina (authentic to Panzano). There's no way the Capek's could eat here. Dad would be in heaven. I just kept telling myself to pretend like I was a participant on the Amazing Race. It's all In your head. You can do this, just eat the raw piece of beef. I mean hell, the Brazilians were upset when they got served a piece that was even remotely cooked. No exaggeration.

We got lost once we arrived into Florence. Ron was literally driving down pedestrian only walkways past the Fendi store. I am sure we have about 500 euro worth in fines. This was the first fight of our trip. Ahh, driving in Italy finally is all all that people said it would be. When we did fget to the hotel, I went straight to the bar and grabbed us each a beer. We needed something to take the edge off. We sat on the terrace and enjoyed the beautiful evening then called it up early.

On Monday morning we got up late and enjoyed reading the paper and drinking coffee on our terrace. I love how the battle of the bells begins at noon. That sound will never get old. I got another run in. Yes, 8 miles on the treadmill pulling an entire cow behind me not to mention a few bottles of wine. We walked around Florence for about an hour and a half, gave each other a high five and headed back the hotel. The city is crowded with tourists. We did try to walk through the Duamo but they wouldn't let me in because I had on shorts. Oh well. We keep telling one another "next time". I know, I know, the David statue is on display here but did I mention there are a lot of tourists and it's scorching hot? No thanks. We grabbed a beer and headed to the terrace to work on the biggest decision of the day - where we were going to eat dinner. We ended up taking the recommendation from the concierge at the St. Regis (not the Westin) and dined at Cestello. It's a very long story that includes some comments from my husband about the amount of research I'm putting into finding a place and wandering about the city aimlessly. Cestello is an all seafood restaurant; I couldn't stomach the thought if eating anything that bleeds when cut. The atmosphere is similar to a place you might find at a high end spot in Hollywood. I liked Four d'Aqua better but it was fun at this place , just different....more about the scene then food. To end the evening we grabbed a night cap at the Westin's roof top bar. This was a perfect accompaniment to dinner as the vibe is the same at both places.