The next destination was Florence Italy. Home of the famous Duomo, Statue of David (the real one), the Ponte Vecchio (bridge with the jewlery shops on it) and a few others. I will have to say it is famous for the Supermerkat where I would buy these yummy pasta salads that was mixed with olives, tomatoes, corn, green beans and red kidney beans. I was in heaven and it was big enough for a meal (which I ate the salad for breakfast, lunch and dinner!) It was also on sale for 1.99 euro! Cant beat that! Anyway, Florence was a crowded city and I do mean crowded. Forget ever complaining about tourists in Washington, DC...it seemed like the whole world was here at the same time I was. Our first evening, we grabbed a salad and a couple of yogurts and headed for a bench in front of the Duomo and snacked while watching life. There were tons of vendors selling their wares- more here than anywhere I have seen traveling (outside of NY). Who knew you could come to Florence and get a "Pradda", "Guccii" or "DKNYC" fashion for a few euro. haha. I got the impression that Florence doesnt like these vendors peddling their products too much, because as the polizi would drive up, these men would swiftly pack up their stuff (usually laid out on a huge sheet they could just pick up) and start to walk off, all the while eyeing the Polizi to wait for them to leave, then lay down the sheet and start selling again. I laughed thinking how Italy is high in fashion and here, just like in America, anyone can be a cheap fashion star.
On the second day in Florence, we were going to see if we couldnt catch a glimpse of the statue David. A glimpse you wonder? Well, I must admit, Europe isnt cheap and neither are their museums, etc. Italy especially is expensive with admissions and to see David it would cost 10 euros! Back in Cinque Terre, a girl secretly told us (which I will blab...er share with you know) and that was... dont pay the money, because you can see David in all his well-known glory from the exit door. Thats right! He conveniently stands facing the exit doors so all you have to do is wait for people to come out and wha-la there he is. But today we couldnt see David or any other museum as it was Monday and everything worth seeing like that is closed. Sundays and Mondays in Europe. No worries, we walk around exploring more of Florence and watching all the 'rich folk' explore the riches of jewlery on the Ponte Vecchio. I had stopped to laugh at this funny sight of Micky and Minnie Mouse paper cut-outs with yarn leggs dancing to music. The vendor picked Micky to show that there was nothing but magnets on his feet and put him back down and like magic, he went back to dancing. I was amazed and intrigued. I wanted one. For 2.50 euro who cared if it didnt work. But me with no real jam box (how 80's), I decided against it. Besides, I thought there had to be a gimick of some sort like he had a big magnet something in his bag that was conveniently placed on the opposite side of the paper dancers, across from the jam box. But in any case it was entertaining.
That evening we decided to head to a bar called 'Moyo'. Another tip given to us from the Cinque Terre gals was that this bar serves appetizers- a full spread of them- and they are free as long as you buy a drink. We think... 'Free Food!' and check it out. We grab 2 beers (10 euros) and wait for the food. We meet a cute young American girl, Hellen, who had been studying in Florence and was waiting for her friend Melissa to make her way back to Florence, before they headded back to the States in 2 days (she is from Tennessee). The food comes out, but by this time we've spent 20 euros by having 2 more beers. Just like we were told, the food was delicious and f-r-e-e, though I think we probably spent about 50 euros talking and drinking that night. A black man joined our table- he was working in Florence, but I think lives in Milan. His name was Kelvis and he was in fasion photography. He excitedly showed us his website... www.kelvisinvisible.it which was quite interesting I must say. I only got the 5 second tour, so if anyone visits that site and sees anything 'nasty', it wasnt my fault. hahaha. His stories were interesting and entertaining- in my beer goggle state, I repeated to him that I wanted to be his apprentice and learn fashion photography. I do have a nice Nikon digital SLR camera waiting for me at home damnit and I want to put it to good use! haha. After a few more beers and conversation, we all went our own way.
The next day we were leaving, but were determed to stop by and see David and Alan wanted to visit the Utzi (?) museum. Holy crap- the lines at 8:30 in the morning were stretched around the block. The Utzi museum was out and luckily the exit door for David paid off as we got to see the HUGE white marble statue. As we passed the Duomo to get to the train station we walked through a sea of people. Groups, groups and more groups, each with an umbrella or flag high in the air to distinguish themselves. Good-bye Florence.
