Italy: Day Three

After an incredible introduction to Italy in Cinque Terre, it was off to Florence. We woke up early to try to catch one of the first trains out of town, but unfortunately we were held up because the owner of our hostel did not arrive to work until 10 a.m. (and we needed to pay him, return the keys, and pick up my passport which he held for ransom). We grabbed some fruit at the market and just lingered on a bench watching the local Italian women pick up their groceries for the day and mingle with each other. Once we paid and walked down to the train station, we realized how happy we were to be getting out of town. As I may have said before, Cinque Terre is one of the most gorgeous places I have ever been, however, it is a huge tourist trap. (The picture below is right outside the train station where a tourist group is about to begin their hike. Through the tunnel is the town of Riomaggiore.)

After a 3 hour train ride to Florence, we arrived, found our (brand new) hostel and began walking the city. I like to describe Florence as a small, big city. It has all of the components of a big city, but we were able to walk the major areas in its entirety and not feel the need for public transportation. My favorite part of the city was the river (more on that) and the small side streets. The side streets were filled with adorable markets, shops and trattorias. E and I enjoyed walking the streets, taking it all in, and most of all, finding excellent deals on good food. We enjoyed comparing prices of pizza, gelato, large bottles of water and pastries. We would compare how great our meal was for the price and what was worth splurging on. One of our most favorite pizzas (which we managed to find/eat some version of it on a daily basis) was tomato, mozzarella & basil.

The pizza is not like American pizza. As you can see, it is on flatbread with olive oil (no cheese unless that is one of the toppings you select, like I did here) and the freshest ingredients. I have never had fresher tomatoes in.my.life. As I said, we ate this "flavor" pizza everyday and enjoyed comparing the various pizzarias throughout Italy. The pizza is not made in a circle but rather in a long strip (maybe 2 feet long and narrow). When you order your pizza, the person behind the counter will take scissors and cut the length of pizza you would like (whether its a small piece, or a large piece which they will cut into a few smaller pieces). From there, they weigh it and you pay by the ounce. VERY neat and convenient!!! So as we ate our pizza and walked down the streets of Florence ...
and I could not help but notice some of the small details of the city, such as their police cars. I think they are so sporty and modern. Crown Victoria's are not exactly modern, but these cars definitely are!!
>We could not help but stop in a few shops to check out the incredible pottery and leather. The streets just smelled of leather and it was everywhere!!! E & I kept saying that we wish we had more money because we would buy so many beautiful purses (which is probably a good thing that we did not have all too much extra spending cash... haha!). After lots of walking, we finally made it down to the river!





We explored the Ponte Vecchio (Italian for "Old Bridge") which in modern day consists of jewelry store after jewelry store displaying the most beautiful pieces I have ever seen. E and I had our jaws dropped the entire time, and again, wished we had rich husbands (just kidding... maybe!). We ended this day by walking some more and after 5 hours of walking Florence, we decided it was time to call it quits, even if it was almost 9p.m. We hit the hay early (notice the trend) to prepare for a long day of museums and sight seeing!