Today was a great day in Florence... until the rain came. We began the day by getting to sleep in/ be ready to leave the hotel for the day at 10 am.. it was really nice to not be rushed for once in the morning. Then we set off for our first full day in Florence. We walked all over doing people's experts of the days. We started off the morning with visiting a few of the main and most historical churches and sites in Florence and then we went to one of the most amazing museums.. it was a museum devoted to a designers Shoes, it was fabulous.. just a little insight to these shoes.. they were hand maid for starts like Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe and others. After we had our guided tour we were free for lunch, so we walked around forever looking for cheap and tasty food. We stumbled into an Irish pub that had americanized food, we were in heaven. Once we all got back together after lunch we walked to a main plaza where they have a bunch of statues and replicas for people to take pictures of. I didn't really want replica photos, I wanted the real ones.. well we then headed off to the museum that has the real statue of DAVID. Words can't even describe the emotions and feelings that you get when you are up close and personal with a statue that is that historically known and that large.. like we all looked at it and first was like um its unproportional. We didnt realize that we weren't allowed to take pictures until we got in trouble.. so we all decided that we would be the geniouses and sneak them.. because we didn't come all this way to NOT get a picture of the real thing. So then after we all gawked at the statue of David, we left and headed off to the leather school where we learned all about leather: what's real and what's face and everything. That was the best informational "tour" ive had, it was really interesting to meet the 3 sisters that started the school back durring the time of the renaissance and to see them at work. The handbags and everything that they created while we stood watching was indescribable. We then got to walk through the showroom and purchase things.. what a great way to break the bank of a college student. Of course I would fall in love with a 5000 euro purse - so I picked up a few smaller items like bracelets and coin purses. It was still really exciting to say that I bought something that was original and hand made of leather in Italy. After that we headed off to the leather market where things are mostly facke but good prices.. we walked around there and I wanted to buy a ton of purses but they wouldn't go low enough on any of the ones I like so I left empty handed. The only funny thing about that experience was that one of the stand guys was like "I like you.. you know how to bargain for a good product" and yet he still wouldn't give me the bag that I wanted. It was a bitter sweet ending with that adventure. Although im okay with that and excited that in 2 weeks when my parents come I WILL be going back to the leather market and hopefully leaving with a bag. Next was dinner, we walked around the square for a bit and ended up at this little cafe where our waiter turned out to be friends of the Jersey Shore cast.. it was funny to hear his take on things about the cast in general.. its just really funny to see that they all freak out when they are in town walking around and to us its like "oh we know who they are and how they really act" altho im excited to say that I have seen the cast in Italy while they were filiming. No big deal.