Day 13 - Shopping, Shopping and more shopping!

Today was a great day! It started off with a sleep in! Yes, it’s true! I actually got to sleep past 6:30am on my holiday! Luckily I have a tour booked to see the Uffizi and Accademia galleries when I return to Florence next week, which meant I could skip the optional extra to go to the Accademia with everyone else. It was bliss! Just relaxing in the morning and going down to breakfast at my leisure, without having to worry about what time I had to be where and whether my bags were out.

 

At 9:30am the few people who had opted to stay behind met Chris in the lobby and he walked us up to the Duomo to meet the rest of the group for the Florence walking tour. The Duomo is amazing to see! A stunning mix of pink, white and green marble with intricate panels of bronze and gold depicting stories of the past decorate the outside walls of the basilica and the baptistery.

We walked with our local guide past the Duomo and into Piazza Vecchio which is an outdoor museum, with amazing statues outside the Florence house of government (Pilazzo Vecchio- a stunning castle structure that houses the Room of 500.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From here we went past the Uffizi gallery, and its growing line, to the river to take a photo of the beautiful Ponte Vecchio. It was stunning, with the tiny block shops perched all across the edges, being held on by large metal struts underneath it. After pictures, we cruised back past the Uffizi gallery and over to Piazza Santa Croce where we met Chris who shouted us all a gelato from an amazing Gelateria just to the left of the Sante Croce. Omg, it was to die for! Nut crème is now my favourite!

 

We then went to a gold store, and had a short demonstration and introduction to products they sold…. Seriously, who needs a demonstration on how to shop?? Oh, the damage I could do to my cards in this shop! There were just walls and cabinets full of glittering gold jewellery, in white, yellow and rose gold. They showed us this amazing technique that they have used to give the look of diamonds sparkling, without actually having diamonds! They had some beautiful pieces that I would love to buy! Perhaps when I’m back in Florence next week! From here we went to the Peruzzi leather factory where we had another demonstration (Seriously, I am happy to show people how to shop!) and we were left to shop and have the rest of the day as free time. Dangerous! The leather factory was three floors of leathery heaven!!!! A whole floor of shoes (didn’t buy any but was certainly tempted), a whole floor of bags (may have bought some) and then the lower floor has more handbags (bought some), belts (nope), jackets (nope) and various other leather goods…. Happy days. Hey, I did say at the start that I would be buying leather while here, and that it would be my big purchase… and I haven’t bought lots of crapola… why am I justifying this to you? Anyway…

So after spending about 1.5 hours in this store buying a few things that I just HAD TO HAVE right now and putting a couple of things aside to purchase when back in Florence, I exited the leather factory with more things to pack (somewhere) and a lighter wallet. I had lunch in the same place we had our gelato earlier. It was fantastic! I ate a delicious chicken salad that was fresh and flavourful, full of colour. I recovered from the shopping coma by indulging in another (small) gelato (nut crème you are my hero! It’s like smooth creamy hazelnut icecream with blobs of nutella chocolate all through it. As you eat it you have these bursts of chocolatey heaven in between creamy nuttiness… drool!)– BLISS! From here I returned to the gold shop and did a bit more browsing in preparation for my return next week, and then walked slowly along the cobblestone streets (lined with yet more shops!) back to the hotel. By the time I got back to the hotel it was almost 5pm! Talk about shop til you drop!

I decided to cool off in the hotel pool, before heading up to the roof top bar for a pre-dinner drink. At 8pm (starting to get on Italian food time!) I met some people from the tour downstairs and we headed out to a small trattoria nearby. The food was fantastic, and again, fresh and flavourful, and the company was great! Another fantastic end to another fabulous day! Off to bed now, ready for our last touring day tomorrow. Buono Notte!