5 saturday in firenze

Today I decided to NOT spend the whole day in the apartment, yesterday I was extra lazy + it was rainy so I only left for a few minutes.... the rest of the day was spent reading and slumming. So my roommate Becca and I decided to go explore the city a bit. It stormed here yesterday so the weather was nice and cool and partly cloudy... perfect day to walk around! We headed out with the intention of walking around for a while and then checking out the Uffizi gallery near my house but we were so content with just wandering, we never made it to the gallery.

this little car was so cute...
and i think it's funny it is called MEGA, it should be called MINI!

my best photo of the Duomo yet!!

Anyway, we headed toward the Duomo as a starting off point (since its about 5 minutes from our apartment) and found our way to the Galleria Accademia. This is the art gallery that houses Michaelangelo's David. The line wasn't too long, but we didn't feel like waiting and get walking to see what else we'd find. There are tons of great shoe/handbag/clothing stores here so we looked in a few of those.... Found an English bookstore with a big selection of used books.... I got one for 1.5 euro: The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom. (He's the same guy who wrote Tuesdays With Morrie....)

Then we stumbled upon what looked like another museum from down the street but turned out to be an open air market. This market had everything from fresh produce vendors, handmade jewelry, hats, wool clothing, spun wool, coffee, tea, and fresh honey. It was amazing! We walked around and looked at every single booth; I got some ground coffee for only 2.8 euros.

we thought this was a museum but it was just another gorgeous building!
see the little bus, that's what all the city buses look like.

By this time, it was like 5pm and we were pretty hungry so we went in search of food. Side note: every time we came to an intersection today, we tried to go down a street we hadn't been down yet, so we found all new places. As we turned down another new street, we saw this cute little cafe called Cafe Deluxee. This place had the BEST pizza I've had since I've been here... and reasonably priced too. I had a margherita pizza with a Diet Coke (or Coca-Cola Light as it's called here) and then a Mirocchino, which is espresso with amaretto and dark chocolate powder. Becca and I just sat and ate and talked like real Florentines. ;)

so so GOOD!!

mirocchino

After we ate we decided to head in the direction of our apartment to make sure we got back before the rain started again and we found a 99 cents store!! Everything is so expensive here, so I was excited to get some of my school supplies there and some other junk. Then we passed through the leather market.... and I bought a bag! I hadn't planned on buying anything for myself for a while but I have been seeing these knock-off Fendi Spy bags all around the city and I love them. I'm not usually one for buying knock-offs but these are really well done... plus I haggled him down to 17 euro... all the other spots I saw them at were selling them for 30 euro, so I think I did pretty well!

the straps are actually dark brown....
it has all these cool compartments... i love it!!

As I was buying the bag, most of the vendors were closing up shop, the sun was going down and the clouds were rolling in so that was our cue to head home. I have to say it was a perfect afternoon. I'm starting to feel like I live here... and not so much like a tourist. Now that I'm learning more Italian, it helps a lot getting around and communicating. Even though I can't speak it very well yet, at least I can understand them a little better and at least get them to understand me! Everybody here has been pretty nice... but I definitely don't trust the guys in the street though, something about them always seems sketch!

Hope you had a great Saturday! Arrivederci ;)