Florence Leather Markets, Duomo, and Camping (July 20th)

Today, Jennifer, Shelley, Kaleb, and me were embarking our our second to last excursion this summer: Florence, Italy. The trip began with a routine train ride...nothing exciting enough worth documenting. We arrived in Florence around 9:00 a.m. Apparently, shops were still not open. We may have been a little over ambitious by leaving at 6:45 in the morning. After getting off the train we found a bench and went over our plans for the day. They were as follows: perfume shop, leather markets, the Duomo, and checking in at our hostel. Since we were sans Jenn this trip, Shelley was our planner! She started us off at this super fancy perfume shop behind the Santa Maria Novella Cathedral. I sneezed more times than I count while inside, but it was definitely worth going. Talk about a high class place. Kaleb bought some lotion for his momma, but I left empty handed. I was afraid of being allergic to these foreign scents so steered clear. After the perfumery, we headed to the local markets. Florence is famous for their leather, and the streets don't lie.

The leather market was huge. Absolutely gigantic. Hundreds and hundreds of vendors spread across dozens of little side streets. We took a deep breath and began walking. Within two tents, Kaleb had bought silk ties and Jennifer and I were on the verge of buying a leather purse. However, because we were only two tents in...I decided to keep looking before making my decision. Despite his fantastic "1st customer of the day" offer, I figured I could find great deals elsewhere. And I was correct. While Florence is famous for its leather, I would not venture to say that it is famous for its diverse selection of leather. After two or three streets, we started noticing that many of the vendors sell the same products and seem to be working together. So, halfway through, I found another vendor with the same purse I had been admiring earlier. Jennifer and I set up a bargin with this young man and managed to walk away with two purses for 50 euro. Not a bad deal. The four of us stopped in a local food market where we were showered with samples of cheese, balsamic oil, and olive oil. We were rather enjoying ourselves until we came across the meat/seafood section. I still have yet to get used to the European concept of eating the weird parts of animals...like hearts and intestines. Yuck. On our way out of the leather market Shelley found herself a beautiful leather purse; we had all successfully bought prizes for ourselves.

As we checked the map and began to head towards the Duomo we realized just how small Florence was. What looked like a solid twenty five minutes walk on the map turned out to be just over ten. The "actual city" of Florence is much smaller than Rome which came as a surprise to all of us. Can't complain though; it makes being a tourist rather easy. The Duomo is perhaps the most famous building in Florence. Constructed by Brunelleschi, the Duomo exhibits very intrinsic and detailed Gothic architecture. Because it is a cathedral, modest dress is required. We were well prepared, but many tourists were not and had to purchase blue hospital looking gowns to wear while inside the cathedral. I found it rather amusing...and had to take a picture.

Our accommodations for this trip shouldn't surprise you; we were camping. This go round we were not in cabins, but in permanent tents. Our campsite was home to mostly students traveling abroad which was a nice surprise. The campsite offered a common area with a small restaurant where we congregated and people watched. Many of the students were Australian, which I loved. And best of all, they all spoke English. We didn't really socialize too much, but we did get to hear all sorts of great stories being exchanged. For dinner we just decided to order pizza from the restaurant. The staff was less than enthusiastic, but the pizza was delicious...once we got it. There seemed to be some confusion on our names so Shelley ended up taking a random "John"s pizza and Kaleb took Shelley's pizza later on. Despite the confusion, we all got our dinner and it was great. Sleeping in the tents was expected to be an entire other adventure. And it was. The tent had no AC, obviously. It also had no electrical outlets. The beige tent had one mesh window which remained open due to the extreme heat in Florence. As Jennifer and I laid down to go to sleep that night in our tent, we were "serenaded" by a club not 500 meters away. Unitl 4 a.m. Nothing quite like falling asleep to Adam Lavine's "Payphone" and Flo-Rida's "Whistle" blaring in the near distance.