Waking up today was especially refreshing. How so? Well, when you are graced with one free day in a two-week trip, you take advantage of catching up on all of the sleep you missed. Also, when you are trying to recover from a sickness that has been spreading like the plague, I found it best to rest those extra few hours in the morning.
Today, I got to spend the day with my lovely friend Ally aimlessly roaming the city of Florence. Despite not understanding where we were and having trouble finding our location on the tourist-friendly map given to us, we survived (and thrived) the day with each other. We first ate lunch at a small cafe located close to the Duomo. There, I got to try frozen coffee (which was basically a form of cafe flavored gelato) which was absolutely delicious. It was honestly a breath of fresh air to take our time walking around and dining at restaurants.
Once we finished eating, we came across a small outdoor market which we got to check out and shopped around many of the local leather shops. The smell of leather almost thickened the air when walking through the compile of outdoor shops. Everything was stunningly made, but my wallet had shouted when I had the slightest thought of purchasing a bright yellow handbag.
Once we were satisfied with our shopping, we discovered an indoor food market. This is the first time I had seen so much wild boar in one place. Despite the skinned animals, we were able to try an Italian beer and watch the locals interact for the last hour or so of our excursion into the city. Overall, this was a much needed down-time day that was still very enjoyable.
