Florence- Day 2

Shopping and eating- La Dolce Vida

On our first full day in Florence we got up and walked to the market, stopping for pastries on the way. As you can see, the day was off to a good start.

Apparently San Lorenzo Market in Florence is the biggest outdoor market in Europe; I would believe it. They sold everything there, from scarves to ties, meat to leather. The only problem with the market was its seductive nature. You could go in swearing that you won’t buy anything and come out with three new scarves and eight rings. I probably spent more than I should, but since I haggled for most things I like to think it was like getting them on sale.

The market was also a great place to pick up guys if very forward foreign men are your type. We got a lot of compliments, including “good price for blue eyes.” We even got called The Spice Girls once.

After we had our fun in the market we got lunch at a small restaurant where we could eat out side; its our usual. After having more bruschetta and a sandwich we headed over to the Boboli Gardens to witness the views of Florence. Unfortunately, before we could fully take in the gardens it started raining so we sought shelter with a group of seven year old Italian students. We did pay to get in the gardens and when the rain seemed to be lightening up we set out again to explore them. We climbed a hill and the views were so amazing. Frau Curry, Brittany, and I even took some self-timer shots with Florence in the background.

After having our fill of Boboli Gardens we headed back into the heart of the city. I had read about the Uffizi, an art museum in Florence and one of the best in the world, and wanted to see if I could get in. Turns out that the line to get in was over an hour long, so instead I opted to just get a reservation for one o’clock the next day.

It was still kinda rainy so we tried to find a nice rainy day activity, which turned out to be more eating. There was a nice chocolate shop in the Piazza della Signoria which was also mentioned in 1000 Places to See Before You Die, Caffe Rivoire, so we thought that we would splurge and give it a shot. They are famous for their hot chocolate so Stacy and I ordered to of those and enjoyed while taking in the views of Piazza della Signoria.

That's Amore

After enjoying our chocolate it was off to the Ciao Hostel to freshen up for dinner. The plan was to get dinner and then head up to the Piazzale Michelangiolo for sunset but we ended up having a very long dinner and missed the sunset. Dinner was great and we just took our time eating our pizza, drinking our wine, and chatting away. We even tried lemoncello after dinner, which I still maintains tasted like Crystal Light and rubbing alcohol. I do not understand why it is so popular.

We couldn’t let the girl talk stop just because we were done with dinner and had been sitting at that table for a couple solid hours, so we headed up to the Piazzale Michelangiolo to catch the night views of the city. Once we got up there Stacy bought another bottle of wine from a little stand (only in Europe) although at that point I was wined-out. The Piazzale is at the top of a large hill overlooking the city and there is also a bronze replica of Michelangelo’s David up there.

We had planned on going to a club called Bebops that night because it was Beatles Night but it was getting late and we were tired. Nevertheless, we decided to stop by and check it out for a couple of minutes. We got in there and went to the bathroom, on the way running into none other than Stacy’s roommate from U of I that is studying in Versailles. What a crazy coincidence! We talked with her and her friends for a while but Britt and I were wiped out so we headed back to the hostel. Stacy said that she would spend the night at her friends’ hostel because she could not get in to our without a key and she wanted to stay longer.

Cut to 3 am when there is a knock on the door. After being sufficiently freaked-out but a knock at the door in the middle of the night, I mustered enough courage to answer the door. Turns out with was Stacy and one of the guys that we were talking to that night. Stacy did not say anything to me just went right to her bed, while the guy looks at me and said “Hear you have an extra bed.” Confused as I was, I cleared off the bed and he collapsed there. And then I was left wondering what was going on.

Turns out Stacy was just going to sleep at her friend Maria’s hostel but one of Maria’s friends volunteered to walk her home. Since we had an extra bed in our hostel room Stacy offered him it so that he wouldn’t have to go out of his way. And that was another hostel adventure from my European life.