The Forest Dancer: Una Storia Italiana part 2

Hello my darlings!

Ok, so I definitely left out some photos from Day 1. Here they are:

Found the bus to take me from the airport to my hostel.

Half of the room. See the bed with the black jacket? THAT'S Seattle-Swimming-Shorts'

Found food!

Yeah, that's about it.

THE NEXT DAY....

Like I said, I arrived in Florence at 9:45. The American girls showed me where the buses were and I caught the one the hostel told me to catch. I got off at the stop I was supposed to get off at, and then I realized I didn't know exactly where to go after that...so I just walked straight down the street for 30 seconds before coming to my senses.

Now I was on the hunt for a helpful Italian to guide me to my temporary home. Spotted: Lady with a baby stroller [Approaches] Fast Italian lady speeds away.

Spotted: "Cool" looking girl, early 20's, with neat hair and stylish but casual clothes. [Approaches] Accepted! She pointed to the street I should go to and then patted me on the back with a big smile and wished me luck. SO NICE.

I turned right on the street and noticed the numbers going 20, 24, 26 ...but there were also other numbers in blue. I decided to ignore those. I turned and walked the other way since I was looking for #11. 16, 12,10...Right. I need to cross the street to get to the odds.

Hostel reached.

I walk in to see an ADORABLE group of little school children who were visiting Florence for a school trip. I checked in and asked for my friends' room numbers.

Numbers in hand I was getting so excited because within a minute I would see Sara and Maria!!

I turn some corner and find the stairs which are next to 4 computers. I see red hair. Could it be...? YES. It was Sara!!!! I got so excited but kept myself from screaming right then and there. I sneaked up behind her and surprised her. It was SO good seeing her after these months!

We then went up to find Maria (HUGS!) and I met Tristan, the fourth person.

And so we were off!!

We found this FANTASTIC cafe that wasn't touristy. There was a nice old Italian man drinking his Espresso and reading the morning paper, a business lady grabbing a bite to eat before work (she also helped us with one of our orders), a mom with her baby etc.

Sara and I bought three pastries each and then cut them in half so that we could try them all.

Planning out our day :)

We're baaaaaccckkk

First up: BIKE RENTALS.

You see, SAMS has this thing with bicycles. We love them. Absolutely adore them really. And what better way to see this new beautiful city than by bicycle? We were on the hunt for the rental place and were being pretty successful thanks to Tristan and his impeccable sense of direction.

At one point though we could feel that we were close by, but we couldn't see the stand anywhere. Then, like the nun of one of my previous stories, I spotted a man on a purple bicycle (purple ones were rental ones) and left it up to chance to see if he'd be returning to the rental stand or going somewhere else. I power walked behind him for a hot minute and then, like a beacon in the night, we saw the bike rental station!!

Bikes: rented.

We rode around in a circle for 5 minutes in this convenient plaza area just because we were so darn happy to have the bikes!

Our plan was to go see the Duomo. With Tristan leading the way, our fine biking crew took to the city.

It was like a movie. Speeding down streets, avoiding the man carrying a closet full of clothes to his bazar stand, passing ladies selling flowers and couples taking afternoon strolls.

It was perfect.

We got to the Duomo (beautiful), parked our bikes, and went inside.

We climbed to the top and sat up there for at least 40 minutes just soaking up the INCREDIBLE view.

After the Duomo we went on a walk to find the leather market.

Went to the leather market (forgot to take a picture...but Sara and Maria took some, so I'll steal some from them). I bought a belt that the man cut to custom fit me. " Right now, it is in the middle. To holes to the right for diet. two holes to the left for pizza" :D

I also bought a great little leather journal.

We only had about an hour and a half left before we needed to return the bicycles, so we went for a ride along the river.