Florence, Italy ~ Day 6

 The cruise ship docked at Liverno, a port along the western coast of Italy. OFD had made plans for the 3 of us to take the train to Florence and spend the night as the ship was in the port until later on the following day. She had museums she wanted to see. I scheduled a geocaching event. We also had an amazing pasta dinner.

First, the Geocaching Event at Ponte Vecchio

I choose the bridge, Ponte Vecchio as the location for the event because this statue was a geocache and Ponte Vecchio is very popular with tourists.

I hung out in the corner when I could to be out of the way of the photo taking throngs. I even helped take some family photos. I'm not certain of the purpose of the attached iron thing...maybe hold a trash container...maybe chain a bicycle...maybe tie the reins of a horse or the leash of a dog?

I was on this bridge in 2000

the story of Ponte Vecchio

two other bridges span the Arno River in Florence

buildings line both sides of the Arno River

The setting sun added to the color of the buildings on the other side of the river. These buildings have shops on the ground level. As the day was ending activity started on the river.

the sunset added color to the building wall

this guy made an appearance at the geo event

it was a very small gathering of 3

Now for the pasta in  a cheese wheel dinner

Our favorite daughter (OFD) did some research on where and what to eat while in Florence. She asked our opinion and when we agreed to the choice, she made a reservation for dinner at 7. 

We arrived about 6:45 to find quite a crowd waiting for the doors to open at 7. 

To pass the time we watched these two ladies make pasta.

She put the dough through the machine several times until it was a thickness to her liking.

She used a filling to make ravioli. At 6:55, a staff person stepped outside and divided the people into reservations and non-reservations. By 7 I bet there were 100 people hoping to get dinner.

We were the first to be seated inside. Our table had fresh flowers and we started with a glass of Prosecco. Each of our plates had a different design or pattern. We also had a basket of fresh bread.

There were tables for six along the opposite wall. Our wall had tables for four. It was a narrow building with lots of efficient staff. All the reservation people were seated and then those without were seated until all the tables were full.

artwork hanging from the ceiling

The cheese wheel was lit to warm and melt the cheese. We were the third table to get servings of Cheese Wheel Pasta. The 7 PM seating started with a new cheese wheel.

The melted cheese was scooped to the center.

The cooked pasta was added to the melted cheese as was a bit of the pasta water.

The staff swirled the coated pasta onto a fork. 

It maybe doesn't look like a lot of pasta but it was the perfect sized portion. Pasta was not an entree, but a side dish offering.

Tagliatelle flambé al tartufo fresco in crosta di Grana Padano (€ 27,00) 

Flambé tagliatelle with fresh truffle in Grana Padano cheese wheel 

It was delicious! 

Limoncello to finish the meal

The line of no reservations was just as long when we left the restaurant as it was when we arrived.