Firenze

Florence has been exactly what i've needed for these past few days - slower paced. We took a couple mornings to sleep in and a few lazy days to just shop and wander the streets. Florence has this big leather market with a bunch of other stands set up with souvenirs, clothes, jewelery, scarves, wallets, belts, and stuff like that. We took a full afternoon just walking around looking at everything. I bought a scarf because it was so cold and i was able to talk the guy down into selling it to me for cheaper. I almost bought another ring but decided that might be a bit excessive.

So I've decided that i've seen my fair share of strange people since being in Florence. My most favourite might be the crazy guy yelling and dancing on the street corner. He was dancing around and then decided to do a ninja roll into the middle of the street and crouch down on both knees and elbows pointing his finger guns to challenge the oncoming traffic. Still yelling while firing off a couple rounds he jumped up and started to skip down the street.  Other strange people i've seen have been much less dramatic but a typical trend i guess is that Italians just enjoy yelling to themselves... or others, i can't understand them... as they walk down the street.

I completed both of my goals while here in Florence... i went to see Michelangelo's David as well as the famous Duomo. I have to say that both were way more impressive than i expected. Almost all sculputes that i've seen so far have been big but maybe just slightly larger than life size? The David was massive and so perfect! Being able to see it up close was really cool to see all of the detail that went into it. I have no idea how Michelangelo would have done anything else in his entire life. The number of works of art he completed in his lifetime is so incredible. He pretty much put his fingerprints all over Italy. Now for the Duomo, i thought the dome was impressive but i actually thought that as a whole the outside kind of stole the show. Green, pink and white marble cover the entire building and it was definitely a jaw dropper. Please google image search it if you don't know what it looks like because i think it is absolutely stunning. We also went to the Basilica Santa Croce which holds the tombs of Michelangelo, Gallileo, Devinci, and a bunch of other famous people. That was neat... kind of strange to think that they're all kept in a church. Some people's tombs are actually carved marble slabs in the floor.

We also went to the food market. It basically just reminded me exactly of a farmer's market at home except alot cheaper and alot more graffic. I didn't know what half of the stuff was but i saw organs, full large pig's heads, dead baby pigs, and other gross things that i've completely blocked from my memory. I enjoy eating meat and i really didn't want this market to ruin it for me. Very gross! We got a bunch of fruit though so that made me very happy! I was beginning to think that i might become malnourished from my carb only diet.

We leave tomorrow for Venice and i'm excited to explore a new place. We had an incredibly hard time finding accommodation. Apparently there aren't many hostels in Venice but there sure are alot of apartments to rent. It would make sense if i was travelling with 4 people but that's just not how it's working for Virginia and I at the moment. So it's a bit more expensive than i thought and almost completely booked for the weekend but we're just going to show up and hope they'll have rooms available for the next 2 days. After that Virginia and I split paths and i'm on my own again. Off to colder and unfamiliar territory. I'm more comfortable with the idea of unfamiliar than cold... oh well, all part of the adventure!

Also, i found another pair of boots. Bad me! But they're really cute and not very expensive. I'm going to sleep on it and see if i still have it in me to justify an unnecessary purchase to myself. I'm leaning more towards having a new pair of boots tomorrow ....  :)