Overwhelmed by this massive city, we were so glad to be greeted by our beautiful friend Steph who has been studying in Florence. She'd been doing a course on teaching english. She hopes to teach english in Italy one day, so she never has to leave:)
She took us for a quick tour around the city, and we ended up smack bang in the face of the Santa Maria Duomo. The biggest church I have ever seen! So many tourists...
Some of Stephs friends told us that there was a chocolate festival happening in one of the market squares, so we made our way through alley ways and cobble stones to get there. Never have a seen so much chocolate in one place. It was hard to know where to start!. Real chocolate poured over fresh strawberries is what we went for.
We made our way up the three flights of stairs to the little apartment we were staying in, opened up the window and stuck our head out into the fresh cool air. As we looked down we sore many italians on their way to some unknown place. We could watch the whole city from up in our little room.
The next day we awoke early ish.. Put on lots of warm things and ventured out the door into the morning bustle. We found a little bar and had Cafe and Panini for breakfast. Just beautiful!
We found a market that took up one whole street. Scarves, bags, hats, books, so many bright colours and smiling faces.
Onto the look out that looks over the whole city. Michael Angelo look out i think it was called? There was a replica of the David in the middle of the square (unfortunately we didn't find the real David). We sore many brides that looked like meringues with meters and meters of pink tulle fabric blowing in the wind.
Many a story to tell, but one that is worth telling was the dinner that we experienced that evening. We found a nice little restaurant near our apartment and made the choice to eat there. It was 7pm so not that early, and we were the only ones in the place. After more thought, we all decided to stay and eat. We ordered, ate our meal, talked, drank, still no one came..The owner, a think grey haired wiry looking man, had many friends pop in and out of the shop during this time. All had leather jackets, cigars, and big bellies. Something shady seemed to be going on.
We got up to pay for the meal at the counter, gave him the money and he proceeded to get our change from his wallet..? Had we just eaten at the Mafia house.
We all left in hysterics, laughing our way down the street to buy some Italian waffles with Gelato!
Our time in Italy had come to an end. I was so sad to leave, and promised to come back.
We left Italy on the 7th of February at 7:55am..and we didn't miss the flight!
the chocolate festival at dusk. Music, festivities and chocolate. What better place to be
Waiting at the station in Bologna to catch the train to florence, as well as admiring my boots:)
The markets in Florence
Grant was so shocked at how big the Duomo was, it changed his face to this
Santa Maria Duomo
One of the replicas of the David
A beautiful little red fiat we found at a car show. We all wanted to take him home
the river that runs through the city of florence at sun down. Bello!
No comments:
Post a Comment