Waffle Sandwich....

OK, so you are a pretty standard American such as myself and all you want to do is see the Duomo and Michaelangelo's David on your first day in Florence. But then you are sidetracked by a familiar smell that takes you back to your childhood. It's a smell you can't resist. The smell of FRESH WAFFLE CONES! So you have to look at your surroundings and see where it is, thinking it is just one of the 248 Gelato places in town. But to your surprise you see a little Indian lady standing on the edge of a business with a waffle iron in one hand and a huge smile on her face. In front of her: 25 fresh made waffles. Being who I am, I decided that this is too good to pass up, I had to at least see what the deal was....Well the deal was WAFFLE SANDWICHES!!!! The choices were plentiful, you could do a waffle sandwich with butter, syrup, or one of 15 flavors of gelato. It was only about noon, so I decided on 2 hot waffles with a nice hot section of Nutella in the middle...yep, you guessed it...bomb.com #2 all time favorite desserts. #1 is a secret. It was amazing. Best sweets I have had in Europe hands down!

So I tell these ladies, "this would be a huge hit in the USA, where did you come up with this wonderful idea?" Then they said a bunch of stuff in Italian and I caught a "Ben n' Jerry's" in there and I was like "you guys like Ben n' jerry's?" and they were like "oh, yes, of course"...well 5 minutes later I walk by a Ben N' Jerry's store!!! And guess what? Yep, they were selling Waffle Sandwiches with ice cream in them! I was dealing with a counterfeit operation. This is like buying a rolex for $40 off the street and realizing a real one is $3k....(wait, no one does that, do they?)

We also had a great day of touring Florence, checking out the sites and the shopping and outdoor cafes. I also was fortunate to get a solid run in along the Arno River, which was beautiful.

Dinner tonight was the best we have had in Europe, at a place called Burger King. We had Chicken Tenders and Fries, super sized of course (we are Americans!). Actually we went to a great Tuscan restaurant called Buca Lapi just a few block from the hotel and were treated to some amazing wine, pastas, and steak. If you have a special occasion and are in Florence, try it, you will love it, unless you are Vegan.

View from Balcony

Other View from balcony at sunset

Duomo through the streets of Florence