Florence, Italy - June 12

I woke up at 5:30 am, feeling profusely hungry. Craig had already gotten up and was in the kitchen on his iPad. The first thing I said was how hungry I was and started to get some things for breakfast. Laura (our caretaker) had given us a Welcome breakfast basket with fruit, yogurt, cereal, eggs, milk, coffee, butter, bread, tea, and more. It's enough to last us most, if not all, our mornings here. We were SO thankful for this because it gave us some ease and time to relax without having to rush to the market.

View of outside patio from our kitchen

I opened the shutters while getting breakfast ready, and it was so fresh and crisp outside. Much different than our 90+ degree welcome. Craig all the sudden became quiet in the other room, and I told him NOT to go to sleep because I was ready to get moving and I wanted to eat breakfast together. He said the market didn't open for another 3 hours, and we argued about it for a minute. He reluctantly came out for breakfast. I made coffee in the macchinetta, which I think I did wrong, but it made something similar to coffee. Just really strong like espresso! As we were eating I told Craig that I was tired, and made joking said, "Nooooooo, we need to go to the market!" I agreed that we should go back to bed after eating. I though I was ready to go, but I think I was just more hungry than anything.

Our First Breakfast

We rested for a couple more hours and then set off for Mercato Centrale (Central Market). The walk there was an event in itself. The architecture, plants, and little quirks would be missed if we had taken the bus. So, I think we'll stick with walking unless it's more than an hour away. Today's entry comes with lots more pictures, thankfully! The following are all things we saw on the way to the market.

This is what it looks like the first half of our walk into the city. It's not too crowded and well shaded. You just have to watch out for cars that come flying down these narrow one way roads.

If a car is coming you have to step up onto one of the ledges to get out of their way.

It definitely didn't feel like enough room at times.

Passing Ft. Belvedere.

Beautiful scenery along the way.

This is Ponte (Bridge) Vecchio. It's the popular, covered, pedestrian bridge that has lots of shops over it. This was taken later on in the day from the opposite side we first came. I just thought this side was much prettier. Not bad for a cell phone picture!

After the bridge, you're pretty much in the city. You pass a few blocks of more shops and then this appears. It's the Florence Cathedral which is connected to Brunelleschi's Duomo.

The detail is elaborate and overwhelmingly impressive.

View of the North side.

Closer view of Northwest side.

Before we went into the market, we ate lunch at this little cafe called, L'azdora Piadineria Romagnola. It was rated high on Trip Advisor, and is known for making the kind of flatbread from Romagno area. It reminded me a lot of a pita bread, but more dense. Craig got a ham, cheese, and arugula, and I got a cheese and caramelized fig.

Craig obviously enjoying his lunch.

Then, we headed to the market (my favorite event of the day):

Pesce (fish). Also all other kinds of meats and their parts.

Verdura e frutta (Vegetables and fruit)

Dried Frutta

My favorite: Formaggio! (Cheese!)

Some had dried herbs, flowers, and grape leave pressed into them. We bought one aged cubes in the lower left hand corner.

All the food you would ever need!

After the market, we started to head back towards a Gelateria I had also found on Trip Advisor. It is called Gelateria Santa Trinita. Craig got the Sesame and I got watermelon. Typically, I'd want something with chocolate in it, but it was so hot. By this time, I was ready to go back to the apartment but our other goal of the day was to get a SIM card for my phone. We embarked on a mad search through Southern central Florence that left us with nothing. After going into 4 stores and asking if they simply sold any SIM cards (answer was no and didn't know where a shop was that did), then 3 stores that did (but were all expensive), and then by chance finding a Lycamobile store (our current carrier). After all of that, they couldn't give us a SIM card because we didn't have our pass port with us, and couldn't use a driver's license.  Ultimately, I'm just glad we found a place that sells them. Plus, it rained while Craig spent 15-20 on a pay by the minute phone and cooled the city down for our walk home. It was nice to have that quiet time walking back after the hustle and bustle of the day.

When we came back, I rinsed with a quick, cool shower and started on dinner. Everything was from the market.

Porcini, Roman artichokes, tomatoes, cheese, basil stuffed ravioli, garlic, and olive oil!

The finished product

 

After dinner, we relaxed in our apartment the rest of the evening. Tomorrow is the Ufizzi Gallery and somewhere fancy to celebrate our anniversary.

Random things from today:

*I wore bug spray today, Mom! Although, I haven't had too much of a bad experience with mosquitoes, yet. There were a couple trapped in our apartment this morning.

* Those street vendors know how to work it! Once it got cloudy, all of the sudden individual guys started selling umbrellas on every street corner.

*We ran into another young couple from Kansas City today. I feel like there is a pretty distinct look to Americans. It's mostly a "sportier" look.

*I think Craig and I have our clothes picked out wisely: look comfy and poor-ish and pick pocketers will think you don't have any money! We probably still look American, though.

*I'm trying to teach Craig some basic conversation phrases like, "How are you?" He's been asking random cashiers and such in English, "So How's your day going?" and they look at him with a blank face. Someone as conversational as him really needs to know these basic phrases.

*The most useful phrase today is: "Dove...?" It means, "Where is?..." I usually would say "Dove..." and point to something on the map or the written name of what I'm looking for.


Also, some Street Art I saw: