One of the very comforting aspects of hanging out with this group I was with in Florence is that, for the most part, they are on the same sleep schedule that I'm on. When I woke up at noon, J and L had already stepped outside for a bit for breakfast, but N was fast asleep. For this reason I didn't feel nearly so bad for the laziness that has plagued me this entire trip.
J and L returned to the apartment soon after I finished showering, getting dressed, etc., and with them a small amount of pizza which I eagerly devoured, but which was not enough to satisfy my appetite, which fortunately seemed to have returned. J was kind enough to accompany me and N to the restaurant at which they ate breakfast (we would eat there again) (I think it was called the Yellow Bar, or Yellow Cafe? It was all yellow). I ate a delicious plate of spaghetti. I must say, I had been discouraged from visiting Florence by its comparisons to Venice, a city I did not particularly like -- one reason being the mediocre and overpriced food. So far, the food in Florence is both much better and is much better priced.
After returning to the apartment, the four of us (L included) decided to do some real sightseeing, and climb to the top of Giotto's Campanile. J, the runner, and I were ahead for the 400 plus stair (and 6 euro!) walk to the top, which provided us with a beautiful view of the city, villas on the hill in the distance, the pink roofs of Florence, the Duomo itself next door. The top of the Campanile also turned out to be a bit of a make out spot for tourists. A young couple loudly smacking lips so disgusted N that she stormed off announcing that she was going to throw up. "Bitter! Party of One!", L shouted after her. Here's a picture of us up at the top:
We stopped for some gelato after walking past the Baptistry (and it's famous bronze doors by Ghiberti), and then stepped inside the Basilica itself, which was, not surprisingly impressive, probably one of the best church interiors I've seen on the trip, although the famous stained glass windows were smaller than I had expected.
We walked to the San Marco square for sparkling water and soda (seriously!) and I'm complaining about the fact that after over two months traveling, I haven't randomly run into a single person from Los Angeles. We sit down at a cafe, and look to the side and lo and behold, major superstar and Los Angeles citizen Michael Cera is sitting at the table next to us, with one of his friends. While we giggled like school girls debating whether or not to ask him to take a picture with us, a pair of student types (one male one female) go up to him and immediately start gushing about how much they love the television show Arrested Development. Michael Cera responds simply by asking them if they had a cigarette. I almost doubled over with laughter and spit out my sparkling water.
In honor of our favorite Los Angeles club Florentine Gardens, we decided some to visit the Florentine gardens located insider the Four Seasons Hotel. Very pretty, and peaceful spot. Would have liked to have used the pool.
Stopped at a market to pick up some food to supplement what L would be making for dinner, as well as what turned out to be a surprisingly good red wine for under 5 euro.
After dinner and each of our respective retreats to the computer to catch up on email, we sat around drinking wine and listening and singing along to Robyn and Madonna for hours. This was extremely fun. When was the last time I got to do that? Thank gosh for my external speaker connected to my iPod!
First we went out to a bar called Zoe. Nice atmosphere, saw a poster announcing that we had missed seeing Leonard Cohen perform on September 1, but discussed various possibilities for seeing him in the new few weeks. Spoke to a very friendly bartender, Daniel (half Swiss guy), who suggested that if we wanted to go dancing (we did), that we go to a bar called Flo, up on the hill near the Piazzale Michaelangelo. And we followed his advice, but not before drinking a Negroni and commenting on what we deemed to be an unattractive American girl being hit on by two "One Timer" Italian locals.
The hike up to the Piazzale was arduous, but we had done it before, and knew we could do it again. I'll leave out any detailed description of our evening at Flo, but I'll say that we described it as "Florentine Gardens, Florentine style." It was an outdoor bar, only so so music, but a lively crowd, and yes, there was dancing. We had a great time.
Falling asleep in jeans is not nearly as bad as it sounds.
Que Sera Sera -- Sly And the Family Stone
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