Florence, Italy

The city of Florence has held a special place in my mind since a long-weekend trip I took there during undergrad.  One of my friends was studying in Florence for the semester and I just remember thinking that the entire city was like living art.  I was excited to refresh my 12-year old memories with another visit to one of my favorite cities in the world. 

Our Monday morning involved some grocery shopping for the villa, so we didn't arrive in Florence until lunchtime.  Our search for a good meal brought us to a food truck, which served the most incredible sandwich I have eaten in a long time.  Surprising?  Not in Italy.  All of the ingredients are so fresh and full of flavor that even a food truck can be satisfying.    

Brian completes his transaction at the food truck

Our first real destination for the day was the Mercato di San Lorenzo for some leather goods.  I was in a mood to spend money, but nothing really appealed to me.  My traveling lifestyle requires me to think about everything carefully before making a purchase because I am forced to transport everything multiple times before returning home.  This extra effort means that only the best things make the cut!

We started getting cold from wandering through the outdoor market, so we stopped at an inviting bar for a drink.  or four.  The bar actually reminded me a little of Spain because it had some free tapas items on the bar to accompany the beverages.  We spent a few hours there and eventually decided that dinner was in order (although I would have been perfectly happy skipping dinner after all the tapas).

Any walk through Florence will inevitably take you past the Duomo

Passing the Duomo (again).  This time at night. 

Side note: After a few glasses of wine, everything is funny - including this statue, which looked a little too much like Renaissance porn.  The shadow cast on the building was also pretty entertaining...

Statues in the middle of Florence. 

For dinner, we found a random place in a random part of town that just happened to serve more excellent food.  Honestly, I think that you can go into almost any restaurant in Florence and get a high-quality meal for a very reasonable price.  This restaurant made the smart choice of seating our group in a separate room so we would not disrupt anyone else.  

Enjoying our private dining room

On the way out, they even gave us a free glass of limoncello as if we had not already drank more than enough.  Reflecting on the day, it seemed like our sightseeing was for the sole purpose of passing time between meals.  At least we can use the excuse that we just ran a marathon yesterday!

Cheers to a fun day in Florence!