So I just went another work trip to Seattle and had the worst flight experience ever. Yes, I said ever. In all my years of flying, I’ve experienced cancellations and delays to no end, but this one blew my mind. I was supposed to get to seattle at 6:55PM. I arrived at 1:30AM. In all, I boarded the plane twice and exited the plane twice. Yes, it was only one flight. I guess I shouldn’t complain, since we did eventually make it, even if 6 1/2 hours later. So during the first stint on the plane, where we probably waited for several hours, I finished reading the Sushi Economy. It was an excellent book and it makes me think just a bit more every time I have sushi now. It’s pretty complex and amazing how that tuna lands on your plate. All I had to eat were a bag of chips and a little biscotti. And this is only because I happened to be in first class. The coach people got bubkus.
After being 6th in line for takeoff, then having to go back to the gate, getting off the plane, and getting back on, it got to be so darn late, 9PM actually, that everyone was cranky and starving. And on a Sunday night at 9PM in PHL Terminal A, there isn’t much foodage to be had. So I ended up going to some horrible place and picking up a wrap that was who knows how old, some fruit salad, and a tastykake pie. Ok, this pie was gross. I remember liking these back in the day, but I guess my palate has changed. The fruit salad was also terrible. The wrap actually was a nice surprise. It wasn’t the greatest, but it was definitely more than meets the eye. You’d think it was just a boring turkey wrap, but it was more like a thanksgiving wrap. There was turkey, some cranberry type of spread, and brie cheese! If it wasn’t for the fact that it was super old and the lettuce wilted and brown, the rest of it was quite fine. The brie was a lovely touch!
Finally, probably at about 10 or 10:30 or so, we actually took off. Once airborne, the flight was flawless. It’s just the taking off part that always gets you. Much of the second hunk of waiting time was due to waiting for catering. Again, since I was in first class, I did get fed a real meal. Coach people, if they were still hungry, could purchase a meal. Man, if I was in coach, and I had to purchase a meal after waiting for 6-7 hours, I would have blown my friggin my top. Anyhoo, I was lucky. It was a simple fetuccini alfredo with some roasted red peppers. There was optional salmon, but most of us opted out of it. It was fine! The salad was fine too and the warm roll was really good.
And man, they really did it again with their cookie. I don’t know who makes these or what recipe they use, but it’s so good! And they serve it to you warm and ooey gooey with the chocolate. Maybe if they kept on giving these to me the whole entire flight, I could have possibly forgotten about that unacceptably long delay, but I don’t think so. Excuse me while I write my formal complaint letter…

Oh the flight back was a doozy. My first leg from Milan to Frankfurt didn’t go too well. We took off late, and then once we got near Frankfurt, we had to stay in a holding pattern because excessive winds in Frankfurt limited the approaches of incoming planes. Eventually we landed, with negative time to spare. You know when you watch movies and people are running in the airports? Yep, that was me. And once I got to the gate, it was absolute madness. I’d never seen as many airport employees working at an actual gate than for this flight. I also had someone in front of me show up with a red X next to their name when they swiped his name through. Not exactly do-not-fly, but not exactly all green like me either. Wonder what his deal was?

Anyhoo, it was a long ass flight, and they didn’t waste time feeding us lunch. It was the usual choice of pasta or chicken and I went with pasta this time. It was lasagna! Look at it. Doesn’t it look like a square of gross? Other than the noodles being overcooked to mush, it was quite fine. The broccoli was awesome. My body was craving some green vegetables something fierce! The pesto pasta salad was also nice. My favorite part was the apple cake dessert!

The return flight was much longer than the one there, so we got a much heartier second treat (first time we got a little teeny danish). It was a warmed up foccaccia sandwich with turkey and cheese. It was really good! And I was finishing up some of the Tuc crackers I’d gotten at the train station. They’re like ritz, but better and butterier!

One interesting service note I observed. When they gave me my drink on the plane, they asked me if I wanted ice. Which of course I did. When they served the german woman next to me, they automatically did not give her ice. And you know, the cans of soda you get on the plane are not cold. What is it about americans who love their sodas cold and europeans who like it room temperature?

I arrived in Florence on friday night and there was still a little bit of daylight left so I started roaming. Whenever I go to new places, that’s just what I do. I’m a roamer. I didn’t even have any real maps. But I just started walking. I quickly realized how small Florence actually is and how amazingly walkable it is. Maps make it look big, but in reality, it’s quite small. You can walk everywhere and see everything. It’s hard to get lost because eventually, any street you walk down will end up somewhere familiar, like the train station, the river and any of its bridges, the duomo, this piazza or that piazza, so it’s hard to actually not know where you are, relatively.

I didn’t exactly know where I was going, but I had a couple of snippets of maps to get me to some major spots. I actually had a place picked out for dinner, but once I found it, it turned out to only be a lunch spot. Drat. So I had to just wing it as far as where to have dinner. This is how I ended up at Giannino. When you walk around in Florence, especially considering how touristy it is, all the restaurants have menus outside and sometimes, there are people who try to get you to come into their restaurant. I ended up here because really, it was a toss-up to me, and they didn’t have anyone out front.

When you first go in, the place isn’t that big. Or so you think. But then when you’re sitting, you see giant groups coming in. And you realize there’s a whole other dining room on the first floor, as well as seemingly giant rooms on the second floor. It turns out, this place is huge. Many of the restaurants have special menus that are a set number of euros and you get a few courses of specific dishes. The prices are quite reasonable too. I decided to just go a la carte. It’s a pretty big menu.

As opposed to where I was earlier this week, in Florence, they give you olive oil with your bread. I think this is fairly typical bread of Florence, but it was really bland. I didn’t care for its lack of flavor or its dry crumbly texture. And the olive oil, well it certainly looks green, and it tastes even greener than it is. It didn’t do it for me.

I went real italian and decided to get two dishes, a pasta and a meat. So for my pasta, the parpadelle with meat in a chianti sauce. I know it was friday, and it’s supposed to be fish on friday, but I ain’t catholic, so who cares. I picked it because on their menu, they have certain dishes marked as traditional florentine dishes. I wanted to try traditional, so I picked this one. This was super good! The pasta was nice and firm and the meat and sauce were highly flavorful and full of fresh herbs. Big thumbs up on this. And it was a really good sized portion. I was pretty much full.

Then came my chicken dish – chicken el diavlo (or something like that). It was the devil style chicken, devil, because it was supposed to be spicy. This was another dish that was traditional florentine. This chicken was cooked extremely well, tender, and juicy. But it was boring. So so so boring. It was just plain cooked chicken, and the skin had been brushed with some chili oil. There was nothing wrong with it, it was just too boring for me, and since I was fairly full, it wasn’t a big deal. I loved that it came with fries though, how traditional! But I ate them up because I really wanted a vegetable, even though I’m not sure how much a potato counts as a vegetable. I had some italian ketchup too, and it’s different than heinz or hunts, but I can’t exactly explain how it tastes different. It just does.

You’re in Florence, so all of the wait staff speaks english. So you don’t really have to worry. They’ll bring you an english menu by default. Service was quite fine. And the prices were reasonable too.

After dinner, I roamed around some more, and then ended my evening with some gelato. I mean, you can’t help yourself, because gelato spots are everywhere. There are multiple shops on every block. It’s like a requirement. I got some mixed berry and lemon, and it was a perfect way to end the night.