Florence - Part 2 of 3

Friends,

Florence Italy is Stunning!!! From stepping off the train into the heart of the city, instantly you feel like part of history. I am sure this is how Rome is too, but Florence could be the city for lovers, mainly since I haven't hit Paris yet. So many streets and different directions, but I found my hotel within in 10 minutes, Hotel Casci, super small and quaint. Free wifi, breakfast, way friendly staff who speak english, and centrally located to everything.

After dropping my bag off and getting a map of the city, armed with my shoppers guide book, off I was to explore and see and shop. I hit the Duormo first, the 4th largest church in the world. It was utterly amazing!!! Although I did not take the tour, I did go in, I lit a candle for Papa Olst, and took some pictures of the dome that I could see. It was lovely! Then it was a little shopping where I picked up a new bag with a pig on it! A watch, some truffle items and hellmans mayonnaise. I also found some great presents too...

More walking and shopping. I hit up Feragamo, but nothing in my range unfortunately, I also found a great leather shop for a bag, but decided not to buy it that day. The owner, Antonio, even poured me a glass of wine as we chatted about his hometown, Fiserole and then about cooking and school. Everyone is so very nice here. I ended up walking over the bridges to the Pitti side of Florence. Had lunch at the Golden View Open Bar. Pictures included of the meat plate and the gnocchi salsccito with porcini mushrooms. Then it was off to walk the Ponte Vechhio, a new pair of jeans at H&M, then siesta at my hotel.

I was able to finally Skype with my mom, it was so good to see both her and my sisters face. I made some other calls, but with Colorado being 8 hours behind, the timing doesn’t always work out. Off to a hot bath...ciao ciao.