Todd and I woke up this morning and decided to climb the bell tower ... again for me and the first time for Todd. The sky wasn't the blue, clear sky it was for Nerida and I but still a beautiful view. There's something quite special about waking up early when you're traveling and seeing how a city wakes up. From the top of the tower we could see people starting their day and heading to work. You got a great perspective of the streets directly below you and then follow them out to the hills which had the tuscan pines.
We split up today to do our own thing. Todd and I went back to the leather markets to buy him a satchel. He's decided to put it away for his thirtieth birthday ... it smells so good!
After that we retraced our steps through the Uffizi to try and track down a water colour artist but sadly he wasn't there! We made our way to La Prosciutteria .. we'd visited one in Rome and loved it .. so I was keen to get a sandwich there. It was so delicious! You could say what you'd like in the sandwich ... cheese, meat, tomato, pickles, lettuce etc etc ..and they made it for you then and there. Right up my alley!
We ate it out on the street and met up with Brad and Nez.
The boys were keen to find a record store as it was 'Record Store Day' ... sure enough we tracked one down and had a browse. We then stopped in at a coffee shop where we had a great coffee and a good chat to the barista who talked a bit about Italian coffee with us. Todd and I had been looking out for espresso cups to take home and we ended up buying some from here. We love them .. and now back in Perth really enjoy using our Milan mokka pot and Florence espresso cups.
We strolled together back over the river and I spotted the biggest wisteria rambling over a stone wall.
Wisteria flowering will forever remind me of this trip - it was obviously right in season and therefore flowering everywhere. So incredible.
We continued up a steep hill to the Piazza Michaelangelo and through the gorgeous gardens below. There were the biggest peonies I've ever seen!
The view was definitely worth it, and we were all pretty glad we'd moseyed up there on a whim. The top of the piazza has another replica of David ... and looks down over Florence. It's quite remarkable seeing how tall the Duomo is in comparison to every other building. You could also see all of the bridges line up from this view - very beautiful.
In the distance, we noticed a castle tower that was taller than the Duomo. We decided to go and walk back to it and investigate whether we could climb it and get higher! Once we made it there you could indeed climb it so we decided to go home, change into comfier clothes and then make our way back to hike up the stairs!
It was golden hour by the time we were up there - quite beautiful to look out again over the city one final sunset.
We'd booked in dinner earlier that week and I'd been really looking forward to it. It was literally 50 metres from our apartment and a family run osteria that was more of a delicatessan front with very limited tables out the back. It was complicated booking the table due to the owners limited english but we got there!!
Once we arrived she tried to explain that they were still trying to feed the last party and would we mind just waiting in the front area. It was great! She opened a bottle of prosecco and poured us all glasses and gave baskets of bread. Soon we were through and ordering. We had discovered google translate and it was so helpful! She thought it was hilarious! Speaking into the phone to speak to us. We ordered a beautiful bottle of Chianti wine and all ordered entree. The pasta ravioli was so deliciously buttery. We ate three courses and stayed until almost the wee hours of the morning.
I really enjoyed that meal and that evening .. it felt very special to be supporting a family run osteria with a small menu and beautiful home cooked produce. A true Florence food experience.