I then had a bit of a Melbourne birthday morning, a manicure followed by a blow wave and lunch was followed by a cake that Glenn had organised. The afternoon was spent bike riding and then we had dinner at Lucca's best restaurant (supposedly). Special thank yous to all of you who had extra bubbles on Oaks Day with the excuse of toasting my birthday.......Lisa D, your italian message was hysterical, were you still at The Stokehouse with the girls? Kate S.......that singing was a sensation, grazie.
The big birthday for the week was Glenn's as he was celebrating the big 60! On the Friday night after dinner we each gave him a clue to the events of the birthday weekend. He was told to pack and had no idea of anything else. Not a good thing for him. He tried to blackmail Daniel into telling him where we were going but his lips were sealed. He didn't sleep very well at all. At 9.30 we were picked up by our driver Angelo who inadvertently let it slip that we were off to Florence. The weekend was to include Saturday dinner at Enoteca Pinoccheri which is a 3 star michelin restaurant and supposedly one of the best in Italy, a birthday lunch on the sunday in a converted monastery about half hour out of Florence and lots of shopping just for Glenn (with his credit card of course) .
In order to look my absolute best I went in search of a hairdresser, found one with a cancellation and sat and waited in a very impressive waiting room. As I am waiting I start reading a newspaper article and realise that its about the place i am at and the owner Gianluca is hairdresser to the stars when they are in town. Photos of Johnny Depp, Cameron Diaz were listed as his clients. At this point I start to panic at the thought of the cost of this blow wave but now too late to leave as I am taken to meet my hairdresser...yes its Gianluca the owner who kisses me on both cheeks and asks me why I have not been for so long! At this point I tell him I have not been to Florence for 10 years! The blow wave is the longest of my life and of course I spent my entire holiday blowave budget in one afternoon....but it was a great blow wave!
The family is dressed and very nervous about going to this very flash restaurant.
Our arrival by cab was met by about 4 doormen, a welcome from the owner and a very over the top maitre d'.
Menus arrive - one for wine, one for food and one for water! 10 waters to choose from with the description including the source and the exact mineral composition!!! I admitted I didn't know any and let them bring the most popular. We settled on an 8 course degustation which by the end of the evening when we could not move, we had counted 14 courses, including all the "amuse bouche" and other "freebies"!
The boys were extraordinary trying and eating almost everything. We rolled out at midnight, almost the last guests there and realising that the Melbourne birthday party budget had just been blown by the 5 of us.
It truly was a magnificent dinner and experience and most importantly Glenn loved it.
We were still very full on Sunday, the morning of Glenn's birthday but we were off to lunch to another secret destination....this time a restaurant in an old convent in the florentine countryside, just past Fiesole. It was a 40 minute cab ride to this restaurant and it was in every way the exact opposite of our Saturday evening experience.
Good local food and wine in a very convivial family atmosphere. Once again we rolled out, got back to Florence and managed to find the energy to visit The Accademia dell Arte. Max upon seeing the statue of David, very loudly and clearly said "gee, David's got a little dick"! I walked away and pretended he wasn't with me.
With birthdays over for another year we were all very happy to take the train home to Lucca the next morning and we all vowed to do a lot less eating and a lot more exercise for the week.
Birthday photos for you to enjoy (oops, back the front)
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