We arrived in Florence early Saturday night. We found our hostel pretty easily, but it's a lot different than the one in Pisa. The one in Pisa was very 'homey', small, and welcoming. The hostel here isn't unwelcoming per-say, but it's kind of out of the way and tucked back in a block of buildings. The main floor is one hallway, with a main desk, a few rooms on either side, bathrooms, and a kitchen/lounge/patio at the end of the hallway. But we have a room to ourselves (4 bed dorm), so it has been nice to not have any strangers around. After we settled in and relaxed a while, we walked over to Dante's Pizzeria, a place my friend Rachael (who studied abroad here last semester) recommended, mostly because students get free wine! So we ventured out across town, seeing some of the sights along the way, and across the river. I got my first Italian pizza, and it was delicious. The wine was pretty good also! We got 2 bottles between the 4 of us! After we ate, we wandered around down my the river and the bridges, and explored the Ponte Vecchio, which is the oldest, most beautiful bridge in Florence. We made our way back up town, wandering past the famous Duomo (the third largest cathedral in the world) and got some gelato there as well! I had caramel gelato, and it was delicious! We wandered and explored some more before heading back to the hostel for the night. We did some research for the next day and watched "Tangled" on my computer before falling asleep.
The second day, we woke up and got ready to head out for the day. When we ventured out to the kitchen to find some breakfast, a little old Italian lady hugged us and told us to sit down and she would make us breakfast! Granted, it was only toast and coffee or tea, but it was sweet! We ate and finalized our plans for the day. Our first goal was to make it up to the Piazza Michelangelo, which is up on a hill on the southern side of the river, and offers a great view of the city and surrounding area. It was a hike up there! We were all breathing hard and sweating by the time we made it up there. The view was gorgeous though, and it was a shame that it was so rainy and cloudy, because I bet the view is even better then. We headed back down the hill to the river and walked past the Santa Croce, the Museo Galileo, the Uffizi (which had a ridiculously long line), the Piazza del Signoria, the Duomo (again), and the Accademia Galleria (where the real sculpture of David by Michelangelo is located)). We also had some wonderful pizza at another pizzeria right by the Duomo, and the restaurant was pretty cool. We saw a lot of good sights, but the bummer was the rain! It rained almost all day, and it got colder as the day went on too! I thought I was coming to warmer weather in Italy, but it has been unusually cold! I feel like I'm back in the Midwest! We came back to the hostel damp and freezing and hung out for a bit while deciding what to do for dinner. We decided on a local favorite called Il Portale, which was nearby. I had spinach and cheese ravioli with meat sauce, and they had some really good bread! We also got some wine again (you just have to in Italy). It was very good. I am loving the food here. (so much better than the UK, unfortunately). After dinner we went to a microbrewery/bar nearby our hostel and hung out for a while. I tried some Limoncello, and it was like liquid lemon drops! But it was also very strong. We came home a little early because we wanted to get up early the next day to go check out some of the markets (hoping for no rain) before we leave for Bologna.
The next morning we got ready and packed up, had some breakfast, stored our bags, checked out, and headed out to the Central Market! The market was really cool! It was endless though! Booths and booths of genuine leather, souvenirs, scarves, glass and ceramic work, jewelery, etc. I was really in a shopping mood and bought two keychains, a pin for Emily, an owl wine cork, a scarf, and a genuine Italian leather purse (my favorite purchase)! We went to the indoor market to look around at the food and got some cappuccinos. Then we had to get back to our bags to catch our train to Bologna. So far, Florence has been my favorite part of the trip! (minus the rain). More to come on Bologna next!
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