There are very few things I would change about my trip to Italy in December of 2024. Specifically, Florence was nearly 100% perfect from start to finish.
However, there is one moment that stands out as potentially not being my finest. The night prior, we had the best experience EVER at our wine tasting and brought a bottle home. Obviously, this needed to be finished by the time we left Italy in just 3 nights (light work).
The time is early afternoon and the vibe I was looking for was wine cheese cracker grape if you know what I mean. The person I was traveling with had the bad habit of leaning into the jet lag, so she wanted to take a nap. No problem! I would just run out and grab the snacks while she slept.
I set out on my little walk with no set destination other than to find a block of cheese to gnaw on. Everything else I imagined this vibe with we had already, but I just needed the cheese. We are literally in Italy, this definitely would not be hard.
I begin walking around the blocks and am casually window shopping as I go. After about 30 mins, I am starting to be a little confused about how I have yet to pass a single grocery or cheese store on this trek. After an hour, my concern turns into frustration.
I texted my two friends who had studied abroad here asking about where I could find cheese and they jokingly responded along the lines of “anywhere”… Finally I was given the name of a grocery store. I maps-ed it and the closest was conveniently a full hour in the opposite direction of where I had walked 🙂
I was honestly giving up on my dream of wine and cheese. I walked into LUSH to calm down and rubbed free lotion samples all over my body to try to distract from my failed cheese mission. Am I just stupid to think that walking around Florence for an hour that I would just stumble across cheese?
I moped back to the hotel a different path from the one I had taken originally and, you guessed it, still did not come across a single vendor selling cheese. I did find this outdoor leather market which was cool, I guess…
When I got to the hotel room I laid down on the bed with my glass of wine, cheese-less, and cried. I wasn’t actually that torn up, but I just REALLY wanted a piece of cheese </3 You just wouldn’t understand unless you craved parm reg as much as I do. The person I was traveling with certainly didn’t, LOL.
Finally I got over myself and we made our way to dinner and everything was fine. But I will never forget my failed cheese mission and feeling so humiliated over a block of parm.
p.s. I DID get my cheese when I made it to Venice and had my moment, so this is a life lesson that good things come to those who wait.
