Today was a chain store shopping day for Susan and me. We raided Zara and H&M and came away with some crazy good deals. Apparently this is one of the best times of the year to go shopping and find mega sales.

Il Ponte Vecchio

My “Sartorialist” picture. Will definitely be doing more of these. Especially one with my hot new red stiletto pumps.

Another view from my bedroom window.

****

Today’s Highlights

- Unintentionally sleeping until after 10 and when we finally were ready to go, we walked down our 53 steps and into the biggest garage-sale/antiques market I’ve ever seen. It probably took up 3-4 blocks

- The very futuristic and mini (and I mean mini) electric car hooked up to an charging station in the piazza where the antiques market was held. Juxtaposition at its finest.

- The 2-inch alarm clock that Susan and Andy came home with this evening as a gift for me. Quite possibly the most adorable thing ever.

I took some film shots today and didn’t take my digital out much, so today’s post is short on pictures. However, it certainly wasn’t short on adventure! I went for a 4 mile run around my neighborhood, walked across the Ponte Vecchio, bartered for a gorgeous print of a nude lady, hung out in front of the Palazzo Vecchio and had my picture taken with one of those gold painted men on stilts.

I was a tad less ape-like today in that I was able to order 3 (though we ended up with 4) bottles of wine at the enoteca. I also was able to tell the cashier at this little stop-n-go type cafe/cigarette shop what we had ordered so that I could pay for it.

Look! I found a little Italian bambina in my room!

Fresh flowers from the market make everything more lovely

Me -and a sleeping Jules- in front of side door of the Duomo and in the Piazza del Duomo.

*****

Today’s Highlights

- Hearing 2am renditions of ”my heart will go on” by a street player with accompaniment by stumbling drunks leaving the bar

- Debasing some of the most famous Renaissance art of all time by putting such phrases as “hold still – let me fart on your head” and “kneel here while I put my balls in your face” in the mouths of those depicted in sculpture. (ps. it really looked like they were performing such actions)

- The very much Italian man at the market -selling plastic alarm clocks and random, worthless kitchen gadgets- belting out, loudly, “Jesus Christ. SUPER Star.” (No joke. I about died.)

- Top notch Italian boutiques with sophisticated, ambient music such “Hotel California” and “Tequila Sunrise”. I mean, EVERYONE needs a little American 70s music while trying on Fendi shoes- right?

- Techno/disco cover of “Don’t Worry Be Happy” in the Coin “department” store.

A morning caffe.

Daily market goods. This made our lunch and dinner.

THE best pasta of my entire life. No joke. (uncooked in picture)

“Le fragole hanno scelto fresco dalla foresta.”

Strawberries picked fresh from the forest.

One of my favorite shots so far.

The vehicles here make me double over with laughter at least twice a day.

It is Carnivale season.

Everyday scenes.

“Duo caffe, per favore.”

Sidewalk cafes and bicycles.

****

Today’s highlights

-little boy dressed up in a beaver suit at the park

-acting like an ape-person at the market. Apparently I cannot speak Italian OR English and I just go- “uhh.. derrruhh. guhh” and use the stick-out-hand-with-money-and-hope-the-shopkeeper-is-honest method.

- the crazy gypsy lady who followed around the piazza, shaking her cup at us for a full 5 minutes

- first gelatto experience (on crack) = scaldare/warm waffle con nutella e gelatto alla stracciatella (chocolate chip/shavings)

-

The market just around the corner from our apartment.

carote

peperoni

Basilica de Santa Croce

The wine shop (also around the corner) sells wine out of these wooden casks. We watched as our bottles were filled with wine, corked, and hand-labeled. The wine we got ended up being less than 4 Euro per bottle.. and that includes the bottle retainer. If we take the bottle back to be refilled, we dont have to pay for the bottle next time- just the wine!

Later in the evening I decided to go for a stroll to see The Duomo. I should have known from the first missed turn that the night would turn out to be a bit of a disaster. I could not, for the life of me, find any of the streets that Google said I should take to get to the cathedral. I walked way longer than the 10 minutes it was supposed to take.. then I walked some more and I still hadn’t found any of the streets I needed to be on. I considered breaking out my first bit of Italian for the day “Scusi, dov’e Il Duomo?”. I’m not even sure that is the correct way to ask for it… but that is what I was going to say. then I entered an intersection and looked to my left and VOILA! PRESTO!

I walked around the entire perimeter, trying to find the best vantage point to take a photograph (the one I saw had scaffolding in front of it) and that is how my night really got screwed up. I circled around the Duomo and ended up in an area I didn’t recognize. Long story short, I ended up in the opposite direction that I needed to be and spent a good hour walking around trying to find my way. I finally stumbled across an English bookstore and bought a map and an Italian-English dictionary. Even WITH the map, it took me another hour or so to get home. The streets are so confusing here.

When I was most of the way home, I stumbled upon a 99 Euro-cent store where I bought a bag of these treats labeled as “trecciole con cacao”. I ate the entire bag the rest of the way home to soothe my flustered self.

The only shot I took yesterday.. View from my bedroom near dusk.

The Great Synagogue of Florence and in the background the hillside town of Fiesole.