After a 4 hour train ride from Naples to Florence on Friday, Maggie and I walked into the lovely Hotel Calzaiuoli, one block from the Duomo, and found the other half of our Towers IV crew - Maryl, Stacey and Laura. After screams, hugs and some jumping around we checked into our spacious room and headed out into the rainy afternoon to explore the shopping district of Florence, which our hotel is conveniently located in. In addition to convenient shopping, gelato abounds and I for one intend to try as many gelatarias as possible.
Wandering through the many street vendor stalls and impromptu markets the 5 of us began catching up on the past 10 years of life, love, loss, and future plans. While it has been 10 years since we were all together, not much has changed...and that seems to be a good thing.
After an hour of wandering around, Stacey and Laura who had just arrived from DC headed back to the hotel for a quick nap while Maryl, Maggie and I went to the leather market to look at...well, leather. Sigh. Why oh why is the dollar so weak!?! We would all be wearing new jackets and carrying new purses...as it is, most of us are now carrying new purses (everyone save me).
We had a yummy dinner at Osteria Za Za - which came highly recommended from just about everyone...and it did not disappoint. Chianti Classico, many appetizers, eggplant parmesean, etc - sigh - la dolce vida! After dinner we made a pit stop in a nearby Irish pub hoping to relive our college days. Sadly, Irish carbombs in Italy at 32 are not what they once were...so we headed back to the hotel quickly thereafter; making a pit stop for gelato...of course!
Unfortunately I seem to have lost my camera at some point during the above adventures (damn you Irish carbomb)! Hopefully it will reappear at some point in this miraculous city.
Wandering through the many street vendor stalls and impromptu markets the 5 of us began catching up on the past 10 years of life, love, loss, and future plans. While it has been 10 years since we were all together, not much has changed...and that seems to be a good thing.
After an hour of wandering around, Stacey and Laura who had just arrived from DC headed back to the hotel for a quick nap while Maryl, Maggie and I went to the leather market to look at...well, leather. Sigh. Why oh why is the dollar so weak!?! We would all be wearing new jackets and carrying new purses...as it is, most of us are now carrying new purses (everyone save me).
We had a yummy dinner at Osteria Za Za - which came highly recommended from just about everyone...and it did not disappoint. Chianti Classico, many appetizers, eggplant parmesean, etc - sigh - la dolce vida! After dinner we made a pit stop in a nearby Irish pub hoping to relive our college days. Sadly, Irish carbombs in Italy at 32 are not what they once were...so we headed back to the hotel quickly thereafter; making a pit stop for gelato...of course!
Unfortunately I seem to have lost my camera at some point during the above adventures (damn you Irish carbomb)! Hopefully it will reappear at some point in this miraculous city.
I told you to watch out for pickpockets. I loved the pics.
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