One night in Florence, we ate at a restaurant called Natalino. It was about half a block from our apartment, which was perfect. We ate outside and everything was delicious! We had liver pate, porchini salad, veal, and cuttle fish and shrimp stuffed in squid. James was in a good mood, but he didn’t want to sit still. We let him run around the street, and he did this for about 2 hours straight. He was very entertaining to the other diners, although Justin and I were exhausted from chasing him the whole time!
As I may have mentioned in previous posts, dining out with James can be a bit unpredictable.
What mood is he going to be in? Will he be happy and content like he was at Roscioli in Rome? Will be a wild man like he was at Natalino? Or will he just be over it and overly tired like he was Sostanza? We never really know what the mood will be. He’s been somewhat unpredictable and as a result, I am HUNGRY! That’s one thing that I never thought I would say on this trip. Those who have read this blog on it previous trips know that we love to eat. I may be small, but I can put away food like a Sumo wrestler, just ask my father-in-law who has been embarrassed by our orders on many occasions.
So, we weren’t able to eat at Sostanza today in Florence. We had 1:00 reservations, and James was just not having it. We actually went in and sat down, but I could tell that it just wasn’t going to happen so we left. James’s nap schedule has been very unpredictable so eating has also been somewhat sporadic. After the Sostanza meltdown, we brought him back to the apartment and he took a good nap. In the meantime, I sent Justin out for some food. I didn’t care what it was. He came home with 2 different pastas and a lasagne. Most importantly, he came home with a bottle of wine. It has been a long time since we could kill a bottle of wine so quickly, but it was just what the doctor ordered 🙂
When James woke up, team Ittmann re-grouped and we were ready to stroll around Florence again. We spend the evening shopping for souvenirs, riding the carousel, and eating dinner at Mercato Centrale again. Justin ordered the mixed grill AND a steak for us. The guy behind the counter kept telling him that the mixed grill was for 2 and Justin insisted that that is what we wanted. We shoveled it in without any leftovers. James ate some steak, meatballs, and a good bit of cannoli, although most of the cannoli cream ended up on my jeans.
In case anyone was wondering, James has gotten much much better with going to bed at night. Usually, at home, I put him to bed in his crib wide awake and he plays for a little while before falling to sleep. We realized that he didn’t have anything to play with, so we put his leapfrog tablet in the crib with him and the problem was solved. We have not had to resort to Benadryl in several days.
This is our last night in Florence, tomorrow we leave for Tuscany!
Alyce
P.S. Sorry if these posts sound like the ramblings of a crazy person! I have to write them quickly while James is sleeping or at night when we are all super tired. I’m sure they are filled with grammatical errors, but I just don’t feel like proof reading them. Sorry, dad! I’m sure they are driving you crazy!