Firenze = Florence

Florence is a great city and I can now see why so many like it.  It's busy enough and has all the "normal" amenities you need but also has the Italian traditional lifestyle to it.  The buildings are breathtaking and the streets are quaint and mostly cobblestone.  Gelato stores line every other corner as do the Italian men waiting to call you inside.
The Christmas markets are to die for and being female always helps haha.  "Special price for you, for you today almost free" is what you hear alot of.  "Beautiful smile....half price!"  I think that was my favorite haha.
The scent of genuwine Italian leather makes me weak in the knees....not just missing the horses but that scent just reminds me of goodness.  Trying to decide if I should cave in and indulge in my first leather jacket as there are so many choices, colors and styles.

The other night we went our with 2 couples from our hostel.  Jumped around to a few different pubs mostly.  Had some in depth conversations which always satisfy my soul.
On the way home we got ushers to go to this little side street where a crowd of Americans mostly were huddled around  a door.  The said door would open and close at random intervals taking orders one at a time.  Now this is the interesting part.....it looked about as sketchy as a drug deal, people whispering to be quiet, keep it down ect.....all for a.....SECRET BAKERY!!!!  They were selling delicious crossiants filled with Nutella for 1 euro and these things were flying off the shelves.  Such a random thing but so funny, and sooooo good!!
We wandered back to our hostel and finally climbed into bed around 4 am....yawn.

We all slept in yesterday as a result.  We woke up to a mostly sunny day though so wasted no time at all getting out into it.  We went to Accedamia to get our first glimpse of Michelangelo's David....such a massive, triumphant statue.  I had no idea he was so HUGE!
hen we wandered the streets, browsed the Christmas markets and headed for home.  Chelsea is a super cook and we made a yummy chicken salad which is what we both had been craving for days.  It was delicious!!!
We searched out plans for the next leg of our trip as we leave Florence tomorrow.  It's been really nice to stay in one spot for 4 whole nights!!
It's an even nicer day today then yesterday so out we go!
TTFN