Tuscany

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One of the big driving days was upon us. We woke up bright and early to leave Sorrento to get to Florence. Besides the 7+ hours of driving, we made a lovely pit stop in the Chianti Region. We were officially in Tuscany! We walked through a winery and had a nice tasting of wine, cheeses, and olive oils. To tell you the truth - it was beautiful, but all the food that I have been eating has caught up with me. My stomach has lost its will and I have to take it easy on all the cheese.

Following the winery, we made it to our hotel in Florence. It was about a 5 minute walk off the grid, but considering the town of Florence is so small, it was all of a 15 minute walk to the main areas of the city. We had an included dinner that was smack in the center of the city. After dinner half the group went to a bar, while some of the rest of us went to walk around to see the shops, street performers and of course… have some gelato (whoops). It was amazing!!!

The next morning we started out day with a leather demonstration. How does one tell the difference between real and fake leather. Truth is - there is no easy way. We learned real leather breathes. We learned that fake or real leather burns (as some of the street vendors will put a lighter to the jacket ‘proving’ that it is real leather) as does human skin. We learned that there should be a stamp if on the actual leather if the jacket is 100% leather. OYE. We didn’t really learn much, but it is pretty easy to get ripped off in Florence. Of course the place with the demonstration was real (as one would assume) and as we were walking out after browsing for a bit, I saw the new love of my life. I left the store… made it 2 streets and decided I had to go back - I would be crazy to not get a better look and touch. Yes people, I fell in love with a lovely bag. My 1st investment / gift to myself. Super happy with my purchase.

We then started our walking tour. Within 3 minutes, Jen and my new friend Jill (from NYC) looked at each other and said ‘shop’? We quietly left the group to continue our day. We are in Florence - its all about the David and leather! As the day continued, Jen treated herself to a gorgeous bracelet. Both Jill and Jen fell in love with leather jackets. After negotiating with a man who referred to me as ‘woman’ - I got the price down about 40 Euro a jacket. Not too shabby… but then again the jackets were originally on sale from around 400 Euro to 199 Euro. For the girl’s sake, let’s assume its genuine leather!

After our free afternoon came to an end, we ended up back in the hotel as it was time to dress up for our optional dinner. We took a drive up the mountains in Tuscany where we arrived at a restaurant up on a mountaintop. We feasted on pate, salami, a huge roasted pig, wine, and some delicious Italian desert (blanking on the name). Overall, it was an amazing night until we got on the bus to return back to Florence. Someone in our group was caught on video camera stealing a laptop. WTF??

Jen and I did spend time at the Accademia to see the David while in Florence. Thankfully we purchased tickets a few weeks ago otherwise we would have had to wait a long while! We were in and out in about 20 minutes. We got screeched at for taking photos. A woman with crazy eyes followed us around and we just made our way to the exit. I guess everyone has such a different perception of the David. Some people get excited, shake, and even cry… we just looked at the large hands, the large feet and his small package. We then noticed the lovely abs… We giggled some and went back to shop.

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