Firenze.

I wish we had had more time in this beautiful city.

Florence, or Firenze as it is originally called, is a town in the Italian hills boasting a rich cultural and academic history and present. And in one day we tried to see it all!

It is such a cool city, great galleries, shops, and decent food (finally)!

We always start off by wandering in the complete opposite direction than the city center, probably because I have found that in most cities the way Jackie says we should go is the opposite of what we should do actually, so I just do that instead of going with instincts. Silly me. I wanted to go see those beautiful gold doors by Botticelli and then the famous Umo galleries. About the doors, I heard from friends that they were originally brilliantly gold but due to the passage of time they were not particularly shiny anymore, so when I saw brilliantly gold doors I figured they had to be some other doors. Of course the only gold doors in Florence are those of Boticelli, I think they must have cleaned them off as of late.

Then I went and paid €14 for the most famous of Florence's museums, the Uffizi gallery (I didn't want to deal with the line) and loved it. Even more than the art I loved the building it was all in. I wandered around for an extra hour after I had viewed the work so that I could wander with my eyes on the ceiling taking in all the frescoes!

After hours in the gallery, I meandered my way back to where I should catch the bus back to the campsite, taking in the street artists work, the shops, and the amazing architecture. In my wanderings, I found a beautiful light tan italian leather purse I didn't think I could live without (my excuse is that it can replace my old coach purse (I've used it daily for about 4 years, a very good run for a purse)). But it was even better because, due to my indecision and some bantering skills the lady knocked off about €15 from the asking price! I'd call that a definite score!

And then I wandered some more. I looked at paintings, enjoyed the architecture, and sat down for a latte in this random little square. The only bad thing was that Italian men have no sense for leaving a girl alone! Honestly walking around I got cat calls and all sorts of obnoxious sweet talking. Its crazy, even guys in vehicles will slow down on the street to look and cat-call. Italian culture huh?

I eventually found my way back to the central cathedral (another magnificent work of architecutre, white, pink, and black marble intricately carved and built up) from where I found my way back to our home for the night, another campsite (this one with a pool!). I nearly missed my bus stop for the campsite tonight because I was re-reading old emails and writing blog posts, and after a lay by the pool I got to bed in preparation for an early morning train ride to...Rome!