San Valentino. Saint Valentine.

Ciao Amore!
I hope you are all having/had a good Valentine's Day.
In our Italian classes Valentine's Day would always come up whenever we were talking about holidays in Italy. We were always told that Italians didn't really celebrate Valentine's day, at least not like America.
Well, they definitely do celebrate it, but definitely not as intensely as we do. I saw quite a few men carrying roses or bouquets of flowers, lots of couples stopping in the street for a kiss (or twenty), and couples picking out jewelry at the shops on the Ponte Vecchio. I definitely saw a lot of people that were celebrating in some way, but it seemed much less commercial and much more heart felt.

Even the panino shop that I go to was celebrating! They had various sizes of heart shaped balloons up all around the shop. It was very cute and festive. :)

Today I decided to try a new sandwhich. I had speck last night and it was pretty good, so I decided to try it on a panino. I got prosciutto, speck, pecorino, maionese, and lattuga. It was probably one of the top 3 paninis I have had so far.

Today during my art history class we went to the Duomo. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera today, so I will wait to tell you everything I learned until I go back and take some pictures to accompany it! Perhaps I will do that this weekend. It was an absolutely beautiful day today. It got back up into the 50s today, and the sun was shining very brightly! It must have been because all that love was in the air! 

This is a picture looking towards the West of Florence along the Arno. The Ponte Vecchio was behind me when I took this. Despite the unappealing color of the Arno, the view is always wonderful. 

After my class and my lunch I worked on some homework for a little bit and then decided to head out into the city. Seeing as my Valentine is over 4,000 miles away, I had a date with myself. What better date can one have with oneself then going to the chocolate festival?! 

I finally bought my truffles! I bought 5 for 5.50 euro. They were 4.50 euro / l'etto (which is a pound). The woman at the booth starting talking to me in English, and I replied in Italian and continued to ask a few questions in Italian and though they weren't the greatest sentences, I was very happy that she then continued to reply in Italian.

So, I got 5 truffles. The top left is pistachio  This was delicious! It had a pistachio flavor, but also kind of an almondesque flavor. It tasted like something I have had before, but I couldn't quite place my finger on it. The top right is nocciola (hazelnut). I haven't eaten this one. The middle white one is tiramisu, which I have also not eaten yet. The bottom left is caffe` (coffee). I haven't had that one yet either. The bottom right is fondante (basically your classic truffle). I did have this one. It was a very rich chocolate, and I savored every bite. I have no idea how I contained myself from eating all of them at once, but I'm glad I did. I will probably finish the rest tomorrow and then may have to go back to get more before the festival is over on the 17th! After my trip to the chocolate festival I wandered back  through the streets.

This is one of the most expensive streets in Florence. In particular, this block. If you have a lot of money, and want to do some shopping, this is the street to go to! 

I passed all of these shops in less than 2 minutes: Gucci, Prada, Fendi, Hermes, Dolce and Gabbana, Mont Blanc, Dior, Armani, Pucci, Burberry, and Tiffany's (just to name a few). 

Too bad I'm a poor college student. :( 

This evening I had a goulash with white rice. The beef in it was delicious and so tender, it just fell right apart! Then we had some pumpkin that was cooked in the oven. It was  cut into thin slices and cooked in a little bit of a red sauce. It was delicious! 

Enjoy the rest of your day!