On the way to Florence we stopped by Pisa to visit the famous leaning tower of Pisa. I never imagined it to be in such a small (almost deserted) town. We got our iconic shot and we were back on our way. One thing I really noticed about Italy is there are many beggers and black market sellers who basically put the product in your face. The market sellers aren't shy of inappropriate remarks either. Tad annoying.
We got to our Florence hotel and this was the first taste of a 'real' Italian hotel. After dragging my suitcase up a flight of stairs it wasn't too pleasing to see the smallest shower I have ever seen in my life. Drop the soap and you're screwed.
The Florence lookout was amazing. The town itself isn't too clean unlike London and Paris but the view of the city from above makes up for it.
At our tuscan dinner we were welcomed with a Campari and sat down in a room where mist constantly sprayed with the fans to cool us down. The amount of food was ridiculous.... just like home. We had antipasti to begin with including a range of small bruschetta. For the first course we had pasta napolitana and lasagna. For second we had beef with baby spinach with rock salt and potatoes. Hello carbs! All of this washed down with a big ass bottle of wine paired with a sing-along to volare with the restaurant's in-house entertainer. No doubt there were lots of cute Italian waiters so of course I sneaked in a photo!
After dinner we headed out to Space discoteca electronica! It had two levels. The bottom level was karaoke style so I found the top level was more my style. The only disappointing thing about the place was that it was full of other contiki groups. We experienced this back in Sully's in Paris. Nevertheless our contiki group is a lot of fun when we head out so it was a good time. The Italian bars have an interesting drink system. They hand you a drink card which gets stamped at the bar and you have to pay before you leave and you receive a pass out. It makes the bar a lot more efficient but if you lose your card you have to cough up a nice 50 euro. We got home about 2 and headed down the street where an italian lady was serving hotdogs. We sat in the lobby and I skyped my parents. It was good to see their faces as well as my little friend Siena.
The next say we got up early to begin our tour of Florence. First we went to a leather shop. I learnt two ways to tell if leather is fake. The first the lining of leather is suade which is difficult to replicate and if you can't see the lining, if you rub the leather together and there is friction this means there is suade inside the lining.
I bought an orange pandora leather bracelet with a prayer (ave maria) written on it in small detail to add to my italian arm swag. Florence is also popular for their nomination bracelets. Growing up in an italian family back home I still have mine from when I was about 12.
I stopped into a espresso bar to grab a water and a small svogliatelle for a snack. We met our italian tour guide who took us around the piazzas, teaching us about all the statues and buildings that surrounded them. You could wander around the piazzas endlessly because there is something cool and interesting around every corner whether it be a cute jewellery store, espresso or pizza bar or some sort of building or statue with its own story to tell.
After a long day walking around in the hot sun we headed back on the coach to head to Rome!
Via Porzia
Xx
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