The conference is almost over. People are packing up the stands. The general consensus is that it was an ok meeting, but people are looking forward to going home.
The last 2 days have been better than the first two – mostly since I've been doing things on my own agenda. On monday night, I had a nice meal at Cantinetta Antinori with Judith, a former student that was at the EBI about a year ago. She didn't have any plans and decided to join me at the last minute. The food was lovely and the wine list was impressive. We shared a starter of beef carpaccio with parmesan and I had homemade pasta stuffed with ricotta covered in a thyme and lemon sauce. I think I offended the waiter by having a glass of really good Montepulciano but following it with a glass of rose :) Screw him. Good wine is what you like to drink, I say. We had some ice cream from the bajillion gelato stands in the inner ring and went walkabout, taking pictures at a leisurely pace.
Last night was the conference dinner, which I skipped in favour of having dinner with Tia at Firenze Enoteca. Even though the restaurant is rated higher than the cantina, the food was better at the other place. I had shrimp risotto, which was a bit spoiled by having too many cherry tomatoes. All in all, it was ok though. The old truism that I've discovered with Michel about italian restaurants still stands. The better the food, the worse the coffee. I had espresso at both places, and it was bad at both places… Ah well. Tia and I spent a nice evening chatting and walking about. I bought some postcards that I still need to write and send. She suggested we go to a little bar and listen to some live music near her apartment. When we got there, it was so hot in the basement that there was nobody there. The band decided that they wouldn't play the set so we left and then we ended up at the outdoor film festival, watching a really fucked up movie about … I'm not too sure about, but it involved two people singing opera in french about moving to Paris and living together (the together part being really, really, REALLY important). And then the keystone cops showed up. And they sang some more. It made my brain hurt.
The plan for today involves finishing up the conference and… waiting. The shuttle to Bratislava is at 6pm and the flight is at 9:30 (or thereabouts). We're already checked out of the hotel so there's not a lot to do. Some people are thinking of going to the Museum of Music and kill time there. Sounds like an interesting plan.