Florence, Italy June 15

Today was rather uneventful. It's probably good to have those days to give us a bit of rest, but we set out with plans to accomplish more than we did. I didn't wake up until noon which was a bit disappointing at first because I thought I had conquered jet lag. Apparently, not.

We set out to go to Mercato delle Pulci, which is pretty much a street flea market that Lucia told us about. It was in an area of town we hadn't been before so we were really relying on Google maps, and my phone was about to die. When we got there, it was closed, so we decided to head over to Santa Maria Novella, which is said by many to be smaller but more beautiful than the Florence Cathedral. On the way, I saw a sandal shop that I liked the other day and stopped in to get them. They are pretty much like the last ones I had (that broke), except real Italian leather and handmade. As we passed the Central Market we got hungry and I wanted to charge my phone. We stopped into a kebab shop and got a falafel wrap and Craig got chicken shwarma.

We headed off to Santa Maria Novella, when I realized it was 4:00pm. I told Craig we'd need to "book it," because while it technically closes at 5pm, they stop accepting visitors at 4:15. We show up at 4:18, and the gates are closed. This happened to us twice today! So, Craig got gelato, I got a latte and we just sat and looked at it for awhile. Then we made our long trek home and took it easy for the evening. We will get started earlier tomorrow and get more accomplished.

In front of Santa Maria Novella.

A couple making out on the ledge. We have seen this quite often all over the city.