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In one of our (many) guide books, it suggests that while in Florence, don’t over do the visits to the museums, you’ll end up with an art hangover. The thing is that there are so many museums and art filled sights to see in Florence, you’d be hard pressed to avoid them. And you shouldn’t.
Today we went to the Gallerie degli Uffizi. Uffizi means offices, which is what the space used to be back in the day. In 1560 it was built for Cosimo I de' Medici as the offices for the Florentine magistrates. It’s organized like office space on the inside.
The line to get in is an hour long, but our concierge got us a reservation to get in and we bypassed some of the line. The reason I say some, is because a few hours before we got there, there was a “strike”. By which group and for what reason I have no idea. In Italy, strikes tend to just pop up and last a few hours and then end, but cause minor to major disruption, and are not uncommon as we would find out on our way to Rome from Siena (more on that later).
This sign cracked me up. It was right at the entrance of the Uffizi. The Gallery could be open at 10:30. Who knows, come find out.
We didn't take too many pictures with my digital camera in the museum, mostly with Cary's film camera. I got this one out of the window from the Uffizi of Ponte Vecchio, which was the only bridge to survive bombing during WWII in Florence.
We tried to find the Museo Institito di Storia della Scienza, which was a science museum that included Da Vinci inventions, but it was no where to be found. They were doing construction all around the general area where the museum should have been and didn’t bother to leave an entrance open , or directions on how to get in. Things like this aren't terribly unusual.So we had drinks and cheese at Osteria di Benci on Via Benci to refuel. We chatted with our waiter who had spent some time in San Francisco, was originally from the Philippines, but lived most of his life in Italy. He happened to also work at La Mucca Sul Tetto, but that night was his last night and he was getting a new job. We never got his name, but ran into him a few times.
We tried to get into Santa Croce. Here is a picture of the view from our hotel window of Santa Croce. It's the burial place of Michelangelo, Galileo, and Machiaveli to name a few. We went no less than 3 times and the doors to the church were never open. This was a big bummer because Mario and our waiter friend had highly recommended seeing this particular church.
That night we went to dinner at a modern looking restaurant called Angels.
Angels was in a building that had marble columns and a domed ceiling on the inside with paintings on the walls. But they had covered most of this with draped white sheets, and up lighting, low back leather arm chairs, to convey a more modern and dramatic look. This picture is from after dinner, but you can see the decor, and also notice that no one else is there but us.
It was really quiet, and only one other table of 6 was there. But since we had had such good luck at La Mucca when it was seemingly dead, we decided to give Angels a shot. Turned out to be a great choice. Food was amazing. Personal service. Plus the sommelier, Mary, was such a sweetheart. She spent a lot of time talking to us and just adored Cary. 
Turns out she’s originally from Sicily and her husband was the chef of Angels. They didn’t own the restaurant, but they used to own their own restaurant. They had worked at Angels for 5 years. She asked how many hours we worked daily in the US and we told her at least 8 hours a day and usually more. She was appalled. She works up to 6 hours a day, and why should she work more? Exactly!In Italy, carciofe (artichoke) was still in season. They don't serve anything unless it is still in season. We asked Mary if they changed their menus according to what was available and she said they have 4 menus for each season and that if its not fresh they don't use it.On the menus it says something like unless someone asks for an out of season item, only then they will use freeze dried out of season ingredients.
So for our antipasti corso we had this carciofe, which was pretty raw so it had a really fresh bite and taste to it, and it was shaved. Under this were some sliced pears and on top was a smoked cheese. Those little bits of tomato garnish did not go uneaten. Tomatoes are like candy in Italy, so flavorful and tasty, you just can't let it go uneaten.
This was a millefoglie di melanzane (which translates into damn good eggplant), under shrimp, under scallops. It was as enjoyable to eat as it was to look at. 
For our primi piatti, gnocchi with lots of fresh seafood morsels. Just so good that we barely spoke during dinner. I'm so missing Italy just typing these food descriptions. Its kind of depressing.
This is a crab hugging a pile of picci. Picci is my new favorite pasta. Its like a thicker spaghetti, I don't know how to explain how good it is, especially when they make it fresh that day.
After some more chatting, Mary said she was from Palermo originally and Cary mentioned our friend from Sicily and she said she knew his family, the Loguidices. So she gave us her email address and asked that I send this picture to her. She was so sweet and brought me some limoncello and brought Cary some grappa. The grappa was tough, its packs a punch, let me tell you. The limoncello was good. Appertivos are such a good idea after a proper Italian meal.
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