This morning I was rousted out of bed at the crack of dawn (7:30) because I had read about the local food market. Chris really wanted to go-- so off we went. the market is open from 7-2 ish, and the earlier you get there the better. It is housed in a large building and has many vendors, some for locals and some tourist oriented. There were fish mongers (smelly) and all kinds of butchers, all parts of the cow, rabbits, chickens etc. There were meat and cheese vendors. We saw one vendor selling blue salt ($50 a pound- we passed on that). There were olive oils and vinegar shops and vegetables and fruits. It was really quite fun. We even found a German shop that sold hot dogs- Chris and Ais both enjoyed one. I told the lady I did not eat meat. She gave me a sample of a vegetable soup, like a lentil soup. Yummy!
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| all kinds of mushrooms |
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| meat and cheese |
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| vegetables |
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| anything called a "wurst" can't be bad |
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| happy family |
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| the market- outside the market anything you can think of... |
We then decided to walk to Santa Croce, a basilica that I had
not gotten to see when I was here before. On the way we passed the little chocolate/gelato
store we went to before (and it was not closed this time). So we stopped for a little
morning refreshment.
Then off to the church. It was truly an amazing sight. There
were sepulchers and monuments to many great people and many beautiful works.
There were tons of family crests in the floor, we hypothesized that they were
also sepulchers or monuments.
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| i can not believe how much i love the statues! |
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| this is Michelangelo's |
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| this is Dante's |
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| the center garden of the church |
We then decided to have lunch at the pizza place we loved
before. It was as good as we remember! Then
we decided to walk to a church that we had seen on the overlook, which had a
green dome. It was just a block or so from the pizza place. It turned out to be
a synagogue. It was one of the most beautiful places we have been. It is 3
levels tall and on each level there was a small museum with artifacts from the
Jewish community in Florence. Each of the floors also had an English guide, who
explained the artifacts and their significance. I learned a ton and really
loved talking with the guides.
We decided to start for home. On the way we passed a 99 cent
store and almost lost Ais. ;-)
We also decided to stop at the gelato place called gelataria
cillo. 2nd gelato of the day!!!
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| cone and a spoon! |
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| so many flavors... |
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| and many more |
Today’s flavors: (2 places)
Chris- 1.) Dark Chocolate with chilis and cherry
2.) fondante
(extra dark chocolate) and Sciliano de bosce (tasted like fruit cake)
Janelle- 1.) dark chocolate with chilis (a little too spicy
for Nae) and yogurt
2.)
lemon (super tangy) and cherry
Ais- 1.) hazelnut and crèma fiorentina (white chocolate)
2.) fondante
(extra dark chocolate) and hazelnut
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