Well today has been a very busy day and we have walked miles!! We started the day by having a lie in and catch up on some sleep! The hostel we're staying in is really nice and the room is huge, so the contents of my rucksack are all over the floor!
We started the day by having a look around the Mercado Centrale, just imagine Leeds City Market or the Grainger Market (for those in Newcastle!) but in Italy!! Off course shaun was hunting out the free samples so we tried some lovely salami and some chocolate biscotti (not in the same bite of course!).
We then headed back to the duomo (cathedral) that we saw last night and waited in the long queue to get in! But it was well worth the wait as all the architecture and art work is amazing! It is hard to appreciate with just a description but the cathedral and tower are absolutely huge! It's hard to believe that it was built hundreds of years ago!
After queing in the heat and wondering around the narrow streets we went back to Mercato Central and had some lunch, a lovely square of lasange for only €4!
After eating our lunch in the baking heat we decided to visit the Museo dell Academia to see the famous Statue of David! The 1 hour queue in the hot sun was well worth the wait to get inside and see the huge statue! We weren't allowed to take photos but we got a few sneaky ones on our phones! (pretending we were texting and holding our phones in the air to get signal!!)
After visiting the statue and looking around the rest if the gallery we headed down to see some of the famous cityscapes of Florence, near the River Arno.
We strolled along the river taking various photos (thanks for the 8gb memory card, John, still got 5374 photos left to take!) and stopped off at one of the numerous gelatto bars where I had a tiramsu ice cream! Italians definately do the best Ice cream!!
We casually strolled back towards the hostel past loads of designer boutiques and gorgeous (and expensive) looking restaurants and stopped off in a cafe for some tea. We had a mozzarella & tomato salad, salami & cheese, lasange (yes, again! it's my 3rd in 2 days!), a glass of wine each, water and a coffee each, all for €8 each!! Now thats a bargain! and proper italian food!
We are now back at the hostel with a bottle of wine chilling in the fridge! I caught the sun a little (yes, I have been wearing suncream, Mam!) so I put on some aftersun, only to find that it has glitter in, so now I look like a disco ball!
We're planning on chilling tonight and see what else of Florence we can explore tomorrow!
Night night everybody!
Love Tasha & Shaun!