We had a hard time waking up again. It was nearly noon when we left our room. We set out to shop along our way to the Piazza di Michelangelo, which sits upon a hill on the south side of town across the Arno river. We stopped at innumerable stores, making several purchases along the way. We made the mistake of eating lunch in one of the main tourist areas, which proved to be both unsatisfying and expensive. Why does Italy have to be dominated by Italian food?

We got kicked out of a cool cooking store that was closing for lunch but not before seeing an awesome picnic backpack. Jenny made a note of the brand name, Concept Picnic Backpack, so we could try to find it cheaper in the States or online. We continued shopping stores that don’t or haven’t closed for lunch yet. We passed numerous leather goods stores. Florence is known for its leather, some stores have been around since the 16th century. There is no lack of leather boots, jackets, and gloves in this town. We found a unique leather shoe store and Jenny found a beautiful Italian leather jacket that was half-off since it is summer. I tried to haggle down even more but was unsuccessful. Still, she got a jacket and a cashmere scarf for 250 Euros.

We encountered an uphill climb after crossing the Arno river. The Piazza di Michelangelo sits on a tall hill south of town and offers a beautiful view of the entire city of Florence, complete with several renaissance structures scattered in the middle of a sea of terra cotta roofs. We took 4 hours to cover the 2 mile track because of our shopping adventure, and we were content to take another 4 hours to get back to our room via a different shopping route.

On the way back we stopped for dinner at a restaurant outside the Uffizi museum. Many restaurants offer outdoor seating, especially since floor space is so limited in ancient buildings. Jenny had tuna alfredo and I had a prosciutto/salami/german sausage/wurstel pizza. I knew what the first three meats were on my pizza, but I took an adventurous risk ordering wurstel on my pizza without knowing what it is. Turns out it’s hotdogs. I picked most of the hotdog slices off my pizza.

Upon returning to our room we settled in early. We have two large museums, two of the most popular in Italy, to see tomorrow by reservation – one in the AM and one in the PM. Along with our four mile shopping spree, we needed the sleep.

Ciao for now.

Categories: Travel
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