Monthly Archives: June 2012

Salaam Bombay-An Indian Restaurant in Florence, Italy

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This was another great find through Groupon! I eat out rarely and usually when I do, it’s for lunch. When I go out to dinner, I like to try some of the ethnic restaurants that are popping up all over Florence. I love Italian food, but often crave something a little different, and definitely love to have something spicy!
Salaam Bombay is pretty authentic. The décor is very beautiful and will make you feel like you have “departed” Italy with its Indian décor and photos surrounding the somewhat elegant dining room. With the Groupon deal, we had a selection of things, but I did take a look at the menu. There is a wide selection of curries and tandoor, and all of the usual goodies you find on Indian menus. The prices are very reasonable and the dishes are large enough to share.
This is a place I will definitely go back to! Located at Viale Fratelli Rosselli, 45 50144 Florence, Italy
055 3217464, It’s a short walk from the train station. Try it!

Under the Tiglio Trees

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Riding my bicycle in Cascine park, I smell the sweetest, most delicious, exotic, fragrance! I can’t inhale deeply enough! I learned from my friend Barbara, it comes from the Tiglio tree. This tree is known as a lime tree in England or linden or basswood in North America. They don’t produce edible fruit, but the flowers are often used in tea.
It seems that making tea from these fragrant blossoms can cure practically whatever ails you, such as colds, cough, fever, infections, inflammation, high blood pressure, headache (particularly migraine), and as a diuretic, antispasmodic, and a sedative. The flowers can also be added to baths to quell hysteria, and also steeped to relieve anxiety-related indigestion, irregular heartbeat, and vomiting. Wow! It will also make my medicine cabinet smell great!

The Cherry Festival-Lari Italy

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This time of year, there are “sagras” (festivals) all over Italy. My friend Sarah and I decided to visit Lari, which is known for its Cherry Festival. The drive out, south of Pisa was not as beautiful as most that we have been on, and we found ourselves in a tiny non-descript town for lunch. It is hard to find a non-descript town in Italy, but we managed to do so. Nevertheless, we had a nice meal in a family owned restaurant in town and proceeded on our way to Lari.
Lari is a double walled medieval town. The first wall forms the boarder of the city and the second is solely around the Lari Castle, which we got to walk up to for some spectacular views. It appears they have a museum of medieval torture tools that were used in the castle, but we passed on those sites!
The festival which was to start at 4, actually started around 6:30. You will find this often to be the case in Italy, especially on the first day of the festa, so make your plans accordingly. When we arrived at 4, there were a few booths set up selling cherries, but not much else. The starting ceremonies that were advertised never materialized, and while we smelled some wonderful scents coming from a tented area where they would later be serving food, it absolutely was not ready for service at 7 as planned.The cherry festival boasts over 20 different types of cherries, and you can sample all of them. They are available for sale in small paper cones for eating right away, or in pints and quarts (or kilos) for taking home to make jam, marmalade, or a cherry pie or tart. We sampled some already backed goodies that were delicious.
On our way to Lari, we didn’t see one cherry tree! We asked at one of the cherry stalls where the tress grew and followed the directions home to a more beautiful scenic route. The Cherry festival is held in Lari every year in May.

All’Improvviso Dante

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This annual event takes place in May and is a celebration of the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri. This is my second year of attending this event. You might remember that it took place at Santa Croce last year, where they had filled the piazza with trees. This year the readings took place throughout the city, in the piazzas and in front of the Duomo. It took place on Saturday, May 19th and included 1265 performers all reading from Paradiso and Inferno.
There are usually printed pages for the public if you want to read along!

La Notte Blu

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La Notte Blue followed on the heels of Notte Bianca, and was similar with a twist. La Notte Blu is the day that is celebrated as being the creation of the European Union. This year’s theme was sporting events. Tournaments, games , exhibitions, shows, and activities of all types took place throughout the piazzas.It started at 4 pm on Saturday afternoon and lasted for 27 hours. There were games played all night long. We had fun watching the children and the chess matches along with the martial arts, and of course there was music! This year’s event was on May 12-13. Fun all night long!