Firenze

The past two days, Patti and I have been in Florence. Our hotel is conveniently located by the Ponte Vecchio. When I was 14, we visted Florence on a cruise for a day so we saw all the main sites such as the Uffizi gallery, so this time around we were less stressed to get those all in and mostly explored the city and shopped! The first day we walked along the shops by our hotel towards the Ponte Vecchio, it was extremely windy and not very warm compared to the south of Italy. I gave quite the show for everyone on the Ponte Vecchio when my dress flew up and exposed my bare bum! An old lady walked by me and laughed with me and my mom and an old man were laughing from a distance. The rest of the day was annoying because I had to hold my dress extremely tight to my body. 

I love finding random art on walls. 

We walked these stairs to get a panoramic view of the city. I had to pay 1 euro to pee, which is something I have to say I do not love about Europe. 

We also stumbled upon the Piazza della Signoria, with the statue of David, which we have seen before but was still magnificant to see.

I really think more men these days should have butts like these. Maybe if they walked all these arches they might-says Patti (obviously still bitter about our long walk in Bologna).

Good motto to live by

Patti bargaining for her ink/watercolour painting, my eye colour got it down to a low price according to the seller

For dinner we went to Carrozze, which was pretty good but nothing compares to La Casereccia in Forio. I was mad because I wore my jumpsuit for the very first time and got olive oil on it! I went home and used powder and dish soap from the hotel and the next morning woke up with bleach stains on it! My one big purchase from Europe ruined. I found it in Florence today but it only came in blue, so I'm looking slightly like a janitor but that's okay I'm still going to love it out of principle! 

Today we went to the Mercato Centrale and did some bargaining for purses and visted the food market

It's hard to see but this place had an orgasmic sandwich. It was very tempting but we passed on it beacuse we were not sure what consituted orgasmic. 

Patti and I have been very good at hopping on English tours. We were lost for a bit finding the Market but deicded to hop on an tour because we thought they were maybe coming here. They ended up going to slow for me and I do not think they were even going to the market so I used my navigation skills and got us there myself. We also secretly hopped on another tour in the market that was explaining the different sandwiches and booths. 

Look at the second thing...it's a very hairy boar's leg

I should have put something beside this for comparison but this pasta is as long as my arm

Free yummy samples

We ate the tasty Fragoline

After the markets we looked at the Duomo

This little horsey was getting impatient and started stomping his hoof. Then the owner yelled at him and the horse started licking his face

We didn't have lunch today but we stopped by Venchi and had an amazing crepe, which was super rich (and a caffe latte since I've grown accustom to having that daily in class in Forio)

For dinner tonight we went to Il Guscio, which was really good but what we ordered was a little bit too seafoody for me. Mostly because Patti was afraid to order the rabbit ragu (even though I've eaten a full rabbit in Forio). It is off the tourist path but still very easy to find. 

Taryn will love my eye in this picture since she spent all trip trying to prevent the eye droop

I ordered some house wine so my mom could experience Italian wine (we drank the house wine every single night in Forio) It was delicious but her tolerance is not up there and she only had a few sips before getting a bit silly

Mom told me scampi is just like shrimp....but this is not just like a shrimp to me! I still tried it but it was a bit too sea water tasting for me

This was also a fished based sauce

Tomorrow is our last day in Florence and we only have about an hour to work the markets before we have to head to the airport

-A