I LOVE FLORENCE

Our day started with breakfast at the hotel, naturally!  We then went out to walk and once again glanced at the leather market again for a few things!  I had a few ideas of things that I might want to get! We spent some time just walking around, which was nice because the weather was still not too bad.  It was not sunny, but it was not raining or anything!  We walked to the Ponte Vecchio and looked at the shops on the other side that we did not look in yesterday!  A lot of those rings and diamonds and such are not the best of quality!  They look shiny under those lights, but upon closer look, they are not what you would want them to be!  You can also tell by some of the prices that the quality must not be as great as they would want you to believe.  Then we started making our way towards the Uffizi to try and visit.  We came across a piazza that I never noticed before, Piazza del Pesce.  So naturally we had to take pictures:

 When we reached the Uffizi we came upon a ridiculous line; a 2 hour wait just to get in.  So, we decided that we would try to get a reservation for the next day OR just to really early tomorrow morning.  Next we went to the caffe across from the school to get Nick a cappuccino, and it was just as good as I remembered it (my first one in Italy).  Then we sat in Piazza della Repubblica, and watched the weird garbage trucks transferring trash from one to the other.  We joked about people asking us what we did today in Italy and having to tell them that we watched garbage trucks...haha...the variety of things you do in Italy!  We went to try to get tickets to the Palazzo Vecchio, but I was not feeling well so we went back to the hotel for a little bit!  We stayed there for about an hour and regrouped for what we wanted to do with the rest of the day.  Reservations for the Ufizzi were all sold out for a few more days, so we planned to just try REALLY early in the morning. 

One thing I really liked about this hotel was that they had little chocolates for you in the room, and in the lobby.  The best part was that they had chocolate fish!  Nick grabbed two and a heart and when we left the hotel, he had me take this picture! It was even more appropriate that one of the fish had to be upside down in order to kiss the heart, so it was an upside down Pinna (Nick).

We walked for a bit and headed to the sandwich place that Lindsay showed us.  First we stopped in the Medici chapel (free, thank you Fulbright), and Nick was able to teach me more about his historical knowledge! Then we headed to get lunch!  We waited in line for a bit, and realized that they were these huge focaccia sandwiches.  We chose roast beef, mozzarella, rucola, and tomato.  We then each got the 2 euro self serve glasses for wine (unlimited).  We split the sandwich so that we could have some gelato afterwards and not be TOO full.  We sat down on the curb with everyone else, but an Italian truck almost hit us...we had to get up and move and then sit back down to eat.  The sandwich was really good and we each had two glasses of wine!

Once we finished we walked down the street to get our gelato.  I do not remember what kind we each had, but I do know that it was nowhere near as good as the gelato from Emilia in Reggio Emilia. 

Silly Boy!!

After this we went back to the hotel to drop some stuff off and go to the bathroom.  THen we started walking towards the neighborhood where the apartment was that I stayed in during November.  We stopped in the park to sit and talk.  It was nice to have someone to sit in this park with.  I came here quite a few times to just people watch or do Bible study; it was nice to return with someone.

 As we got up to walk I remembered that there had been a Russian Orthodox church nearby; well, I thought that's what it was...so we walked there because it was not too far away!  When we got there, it was in fact a Russian Orthodox church.  Nick was excited and happy to send the pictures to his mom later! :)

We kept walking so that I could show Nick where the apartment was, and I was excited that I remembered exactly which one it was!  The following pictures happened (including Nick documenting me crossing Cosentine style): 

 

 

Then we started looking for the store that I KNEW had the Romeo e Giulietta tea that I spent a whole year looking for in the U.S. When we found it, the lady had never heard of it, and she was not even the same lady that was working there last year.  Then I also remembered that I should buy some of my fave jam that I had in Florence and also took some home with me and finished there! 

 

We didn't see any other tea shops, but we did find a grocery store that had the jam that I was looking for, and they had Lady Gray Twinings tea, which I cannot really find here in Cosenza.  I bought two jars of the jam and we left.  It was starting to rain a little bit, but then we spotted an herbal shop and here in Italy they usually have tea.  The two men in the shop said that they did not have it, but they started trying to sell us some other teas and then Nick became engaged in conversation with them!  I could understand most of what they were saying, but per the usual found myself unable to actually communicate.  Then a woman came in, who worked there, and she looked up the tea in a book and found it!! It DOES exist...I KNEW IT!!

Then she suggested a place in the market that Lindsay told us about and said that we should be able to get it there.  The men kept talking to us and telling us about the English language and where we wer efrom, etc. etc.  They were really sweet and I think they were just looking for people to talk to!  It was fun though...I was just excited to follow most of the conversation. 

At this point the rain was picking up and we started heading back towards the hotel via a different route that I knew!  I LOVE FLORENCE... Earlier in the afternoon we had made reservations at a place Lindsay told us about and was literally just around the corner from the hotel.  So, we went back to the hotel to drop all of our purchases and rest some.  We took a few pictures:

One in a series of silly Pinna pictures

 

How gorgeous is that face???

 

Dinner was really good!  I was excited that this restaurant had ribolita, which was one of my favorite things Signora Gabriella made....this was really good, but her recipe is better, so I will make it one day for myself!!  Nick had some delicious meat in some sort of cheese sauce that was incredible.  We also shared a bottle of wine.  It is nice to just sit and be for 2 hours; it is totally acceptable here, expected even. 

 

Once we finished, we headed out to walk around Florence at night.

Piazza della Repubblica

We have claimed Piazza della Repubblica as, "la piazza florentina e' nostra" and then when a guy tried to sell us a rose Nick said, "no grazie, siamo parenti", which means, "no thank you, we are related!"  Haha..we laughed for a while...this has now become our standard line. 

Then we rubbed the boar's nose...and I could not remember what the significance was, but I'll look it up.... Boar meaning. 

 

Then we walked to the Ponte Vecchio.

To say that I have fun with Nick is an understatement, and I was really excited to share Florence with him.  We made our way back to the hotel, saw the Duomo at night again


and went to sleep!