Florence was just as fabulous as I remembered it earlier in the year, even through my ebola virus/cold medicine haze. The clean streets, easily understood Italian, and somehow fading in with the locals rather than looking touristy (me!) still amazed me.
We checked into our super cute room right by Ponte Vechia and set off exploring. Well, mainly in search of one of the top panini shops which was delayed when we all piled into the typical European and it wouldn't go anywhere. Seriously. It was like the start to bad joke "2 brunettes, a blonde, and a dog pile into an elevator..." "How do you get it to go? Well, apparently the answer is "have Katie step out." Yep, when I stepped out of it it worked! I had to listen to Cam and Lori laugh all the way down the 3 flights of stairs. Um yeah. I am the one in a knee brace...
Oh well...onward to lunch because my Angry Bird cookies weren't enough on the 4 hour drive up.
And lunch we had. We knew we had reached our destination when we saw i grandi panini heading our way and a line blocking the sidewalk. The best part of this line? On the outside of the shop there was a "self serve" wine bar with various bottles of wine and glasses. Drink and wait- only in Italy! 2E a glass? What a deal! And the panini did not disappoint! So many different veggie spreads, cheese, and meat which made up for the lack of personal space in the "shop." Oh and did I mention that the brothers working were hot? Totally helps. Chalk another one up for northern Italy please...
Panini in hand (okay, now we looked like tourists) we headed to San Croce square for the Christmas market. Although the market failed in providing much in terms of Christmas things, it was a nice change of pace for the weekly markets down in Naples. The best part of the place? Probably all the German/Austrian inspired food. Oh wait, what am I talking about? It was the cotton candy and hot mulled wine. Of course we were filled with lunch so we decided to make plans to come back for dinner.
Next stop? Eh, wherever we felt like going. It's nice to have already done 90% of the touristy stuff in a city so you can just wander the leather markets OR head straight to the guy you liked last time to see what new things there are. Although I had every intention of buying Christmas gifts for others after the 2 weeks of shopping for me in the states, I somehow splurged with my left over December euros and ended up with my polka-dot leather gloves and two totes. Side note, Nina one of these may be headed your way, but the one that reminded me of you has been the one I've been using. In summary? I guess another trip to Florence is in call for to pick you up another, unused one that is if you like it. Remind me to show you next time we chat.
By late afternoon I had to pull the "jet-lagged" and "injured" cards. Yep. Both. The result? A fabulous hot chocolate and cookie break at the place where the waiter insisted my name was Jenny on the last trip. It was the same guy this time, but he didn't seem to care about our names this time around. Maybe that's because I swear they all know Lori by heart since it's one of the "mandatory stops" when in Florence. Lots of people watching later, we headed back to the hotel for a quick regroup before heading back out in search of food. Of course. When in doubt, we always leave for search of food.
And food we found. Lots of wine. Lots of sugar. Lots of potatoes and pork knuckles.
The sad part?
We were back to our room, full, and knocked out by about 9pm. I'd like to blame the super early departure...but I can't. We were tired. Plain and simple.
Day 2 was pretty much more of the same- food (breakfast a place that had been around for 100 years and served scrambled eggs! and the most fabulous biscotti place) and this time trekking around the Piazza Pitti side of the bridge in search of the "Unusual Market." It was different, once we found it, but not so much unusual. Local shops had come together in a hall with small booths to sell their items. Had I not been so over dealing with crowds at this point or feeling exhausted it may have been fun. The next market we ran into was fun. Outside in a square with trees all around booths of primarily "farmer's market" types of goods stood: honey, oil, sweets, bread, jewelry, clothes, flowers.
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