Woke up a little groggy and a little late, and plenty hungry. We decided to stock up our fridge with some food and get some breakfast things too. So down we went, all 4 flights and exited onto our narrow lane called Via della Caldaie. It's a narrow road paved with stones, with narrow sidewalks too. At time it's easier to walk down the middle of the road. Luckily it's one-way, so you only have to dodge the scooters and the odd car who's driver is feeling brave, going in one direction. Cars are allowed to park down one side only, you know it's narrow when even the Smart cars are squeezing through. We found a great little panetteria (bakery) at the corner and bought some delicious pastries. Then further down a supermercato was discovered, we filled up our bag with a variety of cheeses, fruit, bread, and yogurt. Now we're talking. One more stop to buy a 2014 Chianti for 8 Euros. Back at our apartment we filled up on everything except the Chianti, even the Italians don't have wine with breaky.

An hour or so later we were restored and headed out to get the lay of the land. Florence is quite easily walkable, but the streets are meandering and narrow. Very medieval feeling to it. Many buildings 400-600 years old, churches even older. And then at ground level are beautiful shops, with lots of shiny glass and polished marble, selling many things made here. Absolutely beautiful leather shops, purses and bags of all shapes and sizes and colours, custom shoe shops, clothing etc etc. Really nice, beautiful Italian designs. We wondered into one particular leather shop to gaze at their stuff and breathe in that leather smell. Talking to the owner (the shop has probably been there since 1860 something) Keith convinced me to try on a jacket. So I did. Then I didn't want to take it off. Buttery soft leather, light as a feather, fit like a glove. How much I asked? Well for us, we could take off 300 Euro, bringing it down to just 700 E. That's about a thousand Canadian bucks. So, I had to leave it hanging back on the rack. But there's always tomorrow ..........

We decided to spend most of the day poking around shops and crossing bridges. The Ponte Vecchio (old bridge) is really neat. There are shops on it that go back for a few hundred years, mostly gold and jewellery. That's about how long I'm going to have to save for that jacket. We had lunch at an outside trattoria at Piazza Santa Croce. A simple pizza margherita and caprese salad. Gazing out over the piazza to the church of Santa Croce. That's where a couple of local guys are buried, Michelangelo and Galileo. Fairly well known around these parts.

Later that night we found our first gelateria. I went with pistachio, my fav. Beth had dark chocolate and strawberry. We ate them leaning against a railing watching the Arno flow by. Found our way back to 21 Via della Caldaie, up the now familiar stairs, and soon were sleeping soundly. Next day we plan to hit the museums.

Ciao!