pin-up room

florence finds us at the dany house hostel. our room has prints of pin-up girls. it's part home/part hostel and is quite cosy except for 2 things:

1. it is not a 10 minute walk from the train station, as advertised. it is a 30+ minute walk, which is significant when carrying a huge pack on one's back. we are breathless, sweaty and woozy when we arrive.

2. the people who run the hostel are smokers, so all of our clothes smell like smoke by the time we leave. very "ugh".

much time has lapsed (i.e. 1 month) since i traveled, so much has become hazy due to time and alcohol.

what i do know:

13th - arrived in florence from rome
14th - jen went to cortona to see spend time w/ simone (an ex) and his family, yen & i puttered about florence
15th - spent the day with jen & yen
16th - left for rome

yen and i wandered about the uffizi art gallery, my old stomping grounds around san lorenzo and spent a lot of time admiring jewelry on the ponte vecchio (yen was searching for a ring to replace her lost wedding ring). the florentine style is gorgeous - i love all the filigree. oh! and we ate at the central market! yen was able to try "italian wasabi", as the man in the stall tried to explain, and almost died. seriously spicy and delicious when followed by a slice of cheese. of course, wine with lunch.

AND i bought a pair of camper shoes (at the store i would pass so often when i lived there). i coveted shoes from that store for so long and my dream finally came to fruition. wearing the shoes was like softly padding my swollen, sore feet in cotton balls soaked in cocaine. seventh heaven (and not that shitty family-values television show).

i was saddened, however, to see that a market now stands in front of santa croce - it used to be large and spacious and peaceful.

florence was a beautiful blur of gelato and red wine. we were able to have pesto, tomato and mozzarella sandwiches at the grana market and enjoy gelati three times in one day! (insert more wine guzzling here.) we ate at nuti, passed antico noe, went to perche no?, walked by borgo la noce #1, meaghan and john's old apartment with the bakery and restaurant underneath, visited the stationary shop i love and think is just the cutest, smelled the leather in the air and tripped over cobblestones. it was strange and bittersweet to come back to florence after 7 years.