Some observations on electricity in Florence  - 

For a while we thought we were giving up electricity for Lent!  The apartment is quite underpowered by American standards, and while it has a reasonable number of electrical sockets scattered around, it apparently wasn't intended that more than about 2 of them be used at one time. This is especially true for the high powered devices - the stove top and the hot water heater (both electrical).  We had several nights of darkness at the moment of cooking dinner and other unpleasant shocks (literally) until the landlady, Maria Chiara, explained to us that we had to turn off the hot water heater while we were using the stove.  Since then, things have been much better.  I must say, to her credit, she has really been trying hard to keep us happy and electrified.  She's had electricians out here three times since we've been here.  I was talking to another American woman who claimed it took at least three weeks for anything to happen here!  And the task of electrifying a centuries-old stone and tile building must not be an easy one.  I am surprised that the wires are all buried in the walls and not just running along the floors or ceilings. 

Nevertheless we do have some questionable feats of wiring, such as the bathroom ceiling fixture:

  Here the wires themselves are the hanging support for the lamp!

The other interesting electrical feature is that there are two types of sockets in Italy:

 

The first is for regular. lower powered devices (lamps, TV,computer) while the second is for higher powered stuff - washing machine (yes, we have one - it's quite a machine!), iron, toaster, pot heater for tea, etc.

Of course, Italian (like all European) power is different than the US - twice the voltage and slightly lower frequency - but the only appliance we brought with us is the laptop and its adapter is built to handle that (so far!) so that hasn't been an issue for us.

Ahhh.....a day at the market.  Outside in a plastic tent are most of the fruit and veggie vendors.  As we mentioned before, the produce is exceptionally fresh and things like oranges and clementines often still have tree leaves attached.  The customer never handles the produce.  You tell the vendor what you want and how much and they take from the bunch of stuff that's there.  The customer has the right to say, "Not that, but that." and point, but even this isn't usually done. 

Here's a typical meat counter inside the Supermarcato.  So far we haven't given you a picture of the two most famous Florentine dishes....Tripe and a 1 kilo (2.2 pounds) rib eye steak.  The latter is huge.  The 2" thick steak  not really cooked, but seared on either side, drizzled with oil and sprinkled with salt.  It is raw in the middle and usually eaten by one person although it can be ordered for 2.  Nothing is ordered with it.  Lamperdotto is very popular right now.  It's tripe that comes from the fourth stomach of the cow and is dark like a lamprey eel.  (Who knew a lamprey eel was dark?) Since tripe is chewy, the cook usually slices it several times and puts it in a soup bowl with some of its juices.  Believe it or not, we have not ordered either of these delicacies. 

Meat cases are quite different from American meat counters.  I haven't seen lamb or goat yet, but there are mounds of tripe sitting there for the taking.  On Saturday we saw someone buy what we think is a goose neck and head.  There are also a lot of rabbits that bite the dust here.  As in the picture, you can always find some variety of Italian sausage.  The fish counters seem to have the varieties we have in the states.  Shrimp have their heads and you can have them cleaned for you if you want.  Of course there is eel, squid and octopus.  We'll try and get a picture for you.

On Saturday we took a bus sightseeing trip around Florence.  At 22E each it was quite a rip-off.  But we did get to stop at Pitti Palace, one of the homes of the DeMedici's. 

Palazzo Pitti

It was enormous and rather grim and is now a museum.  Since we only had a little over an hour and a half to spend there, we saw some of the art works from around the 17th century.  After going up 8 enormous flights of stairs to the Costume Gallery, we were surprised to see that it was mostly haute couture fashion most of it from the 1950s to 1970s.  There were some bits and pieces from the DeMedicis', (their burial outfits, as a result of a major restoration) but precious little.  Since their clothing was from the 1500s, we guess this was no surprise.  Some of the later fashions were a bit ridiculous and some very elegant.  We saw Pucci, Scapparelli and loads of others.  No pictures were allowed, so we can't show you what we saw inside the palace.  The palace has a beautiful garden, but we didn't get out there, so that will have to wait for another day (hopefully a more cheery one).

Here Ken is outside the palace with one of the many lions on the facade, all with different expressions on their faces.  One even looked confused.  We even have a sculptured lion on the way up to our apartment.  We pat Leo daily in the hopes that he will keep our electricity flowing. 

Leo, our stairway guardian