A lazy start to our morning – so unusual for us – it was great. An older man was mopping the entrance floors and the stairs when we were going out – navigating wet stairs before coffee was fun. But wait! We left our room around 10:30 and returned at 10:45 because I forgot the mappa. Yes, I left the map on the desk in the room. Up and down four flights of wet stairs TWICE before our day even started wore me out and we haven’t even gone anywhere yet.
On our way to get coffee we saw this parking garage. I mentioned to Ricardo that if we wanted to get our car out and it was in the middle of a line of cars, it would take more than an hour to move all the cars on each side out to the street just to get to it. You cannot double park in the street because the street is barely big enough for one car to pass. That would have been interesting to watch.
Our goal today was to visit a museum we tried to visit yesterday but it was closed. The attendant we talked to yesterday assured us it was open every day to come back today, and we did. But, they were closed today too. Arggghh! Again we were assured that they would be open tomorrow. We’ll have to wait until tomorrow to see if she was right. Well, that put a little dent in our plans for today, but heh, we’re in Florence!
We checked our mappa and moved on. Heh, why not visit the Duomo and the Baptistry? We’re here, aren’t we? The beauty of these ancient landmarks is so amazing, even with hundreds of years worth of dirt dulling some parts of them.
Wandering the streets of Florence is enchanting. We walked past places we had been and seen with such fond memories. I made a few videos that aren’t posted because they turned out upside down. I don’t know how I did that!
We checked out the Papini store and it was open today. Cheri, these Papinis are from Como and they didn’t know the Papinis from your Italian town. They indicated that Papini is a common last name here (as you know) – not in a snobby way (well maybe a little). They did keep an eagle eye on me as I pointed to a wallet they were selling for over 100 euros (and I just bought the same one in the pig market for 20). Of course, we don’t even have money to put in it, and we can’t eat out because I just spent money on a wallet…. Didn’t think about how funny that is until I started writing it now.
We walked into Bartolini’s. Oh, be still my heart. There was every cooking gadget/kitchen “thing” in that store that you could imagine, and then some. I’m sure the shop people had to walk behind me to mop up my drool.
Florence’s version of a food court. Downstairs there is a Mercato with fish, meat, fruits, and vegetables. Upstairs are many food vendors selling everything from sushi to vegan burgers and lots of Italian food in between. We checked it out thinking it would be a cheaper lunch than a restaurant but decided it was way too noisy and most booths were too expensive.
Just outside the Mercato Centrale were a few cute ristorantes. We picked this one based on the price and menu.
Our waiter was so cute and joked with us all through lunch. I want to take him home for my boy toy! Now he can open my bottle of wine anytime. 😉
The humidity got to me today. I had to do it – order ice. Of course, it was served separately as an appetizer would be. Oh, thank goodness for ice!
We shared a tomato bruschetta.
And what did Ricardo order for lunch? Tagliatelle con Cinghiale, again! I have to say it was much better than yesterday.
I had a Napoli salad (more or less like a chef’s salad in the states) with cheese, tomatoes, egg, eggplant, olives. Boring, I know, but I was overheated and needed something cold to eat. I had leftovers that we took with us to eat for dinner, but we don’t have any plastic forks at the BNB – duh!
The shoes in Italy fascinate me. Young and even old women walk the streets in shoes I’d kill myself wearing. I particularly liked this black and white pair with feather heels.
Here’s a shoemaker that will make you flats – no high heels. And he’ll make you vegan shoes too – in case you need to eat them later. I wonder if the wallet I bought is vegan?
Sightseeing for the day over. Shopping done – picked up fruit for breakfast at the Mercato, paninis for dinner, and a few biscotti for dessert. We’re set!
These are the men who made our panini at Antiqua Vinalo. The staff is so much fun to watch and interact with. We grab paninis here each time we visit Florence. They are five euro for a large square sandwich with anything you want on it. And you can just let them make the choices for you, which we’ve done before. Ricardo and I were sharing this panini because we were down to our last five euro for today.
Doesn’t that look good?
Back to the BNB to rest our weary bodies and feet (seven hours of walking today – oh how I wish my FitBit worked!). Ate our panini while we watched a movie on Netflix and called it a night.
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