Today was our first and only free day to do whatever we wanted to. I woke up slowly and enjoyed the sunshine coming in through the window. Honestly, it was just so nice to wake up and not have to rush.
A group of us got together and decided that we’d stay in the area and do some shopping (something we hadn’t gotten to do yet). We started out by grabbing an iced coffee at a local spot. I got an iced americano with hazelnut and was in love. I had to stop myself from sucking it down right away.
As much as I wanted to get into something else, like a tour or some sightseeing activity, it was relaxing having down time to take things slow. We’ve been going full speed since we arrived in Italy, so it was nice to be able to slow down for a day and relax.
Overall, the day was pretty ordinary. After we were done shopping, we came back to the hostel and made our way to the terrace to sit and enjoy the weather (and relax some more). Fortunately, it began to rain as we were up there so we were able to enjoy the calming sound of rain on the roof while looking out over Florence.
For dinner, the rest of my group had decided on going to get a steak. As you can imagine, I wasn’t really down to tag along but was going to anyhow. Lucklily, Kimmie and Francesca reached out to me and invited me to dinner with them to an all vegan restaurant. I, of course, said yes! We were originally going to head to this place called La Fate. The dishes they serve you are based off your zodiac sign. It sounded so interesting and we were so excited. Unfortunately, they were closed on Sundays. After some searching, we found another place very close to the hostel called Dolce Vegan.
We were the very first to arrive, which was good because they filled up fast! The menu was small and inexpensive, which made it extremely easy to share our meals. We started out with a side salad that had zucchini noodles in it.
The appetizer came next. There were two waffles with sautéed veggies on top. There was some sort of sweet component as well, which I guess was sweet potato puree but I’m not 100% sure. Next were our main entrees. I got the lasagna which was amazing. I haven’t had traditional lasagna in a long time and this was so flavorful. They gave me a huge piece too! Francesca had the carbonara and Kimmie has ravioli. We, of course, shared our dishes with each other.
We sat and had an amazing conversation before moving onto dessert. We got two orders of tiramisu (which I had been craving since I’ve seen everybody else eating it on the trip and I haven’t had the chance) and Kimmie got the cheesecake which was topped with a jam. Francesca and I each gave Kimmie a portion of our tiramisu and she gave us some of her cheesecake. I wish I could bring that tiramisu home with me because it was to die for. It was creamy and delicious. They make it with soybeans but you can’t tell the difference between that and the “real thing”.
The dinner was amazing, the conversation was fluid and it was overall a great night. One of the best parts about this trip is branching out and getting the opportunity to have these amazing experiences with people I didn’t know that well before coming here.
After dinner, we made our way back to the hostel. The rest of my group had found their way to the Irish Pub across the street, so I joined them. I know you’re supposed to drink wine in Italy, but this pub was so much fun. We had a great time laughing and drinking some beer and just overall enjoying our last night in Florence.
Next up….Venice! Ciao!