Accademia (not the museum) 04.03.06

After a 3-hour nap, we walk five minutes to the Piazza San Marco and the Accademia restaurant. We've asked the concierge to make us a reservation, but that was clearly unnecessary; it's 7:45 on Saturday night and the Florentines can't be bothered to make it out to dinner that early. As our leisurely meal stretches out toward the three-hour mark, the restaurant will fill with a garrulous mix of locals and tourists, but for now we are just Really Early.

Our waiter speaks good English, greatly easing our anxiety over this first venture out into Florence. From the start this meal confirms what everyone has been telling us about Tuscany: You Will Love The Food. Even evil Italian-food-no-liker Meena appears to be a convert. Things that we find especially memorable at this meal:

1. Mushroom strudel. Light and flaky and, well, mushroomy. (I'm not possessed of the facile vocabulary of a food critic, OK?)

2. The house red: half-liter, eight Euros. And it's eminently drinkable.

3. Rich and wonderful desserts, including the owner's own version of a dark chocolate cake.

4. The waiter caps the meal by offering us complimentary grappa. Feel the burn.

After gorging like this, there is only one thing to do. We sleep.