Florence SanLorenzo Market

Slept pretty well. Anna served us our continental breakfast in our room. Average at best. A cold dry prosciutto and cheese sandwich, 2 sweet croissants ,yogurt some awful orange drink, like Tang and a cappuccino that had very thick froth. Not much coffee, so we asked for an American coffee. She brought us "instant" coffee, ugh. Left the room by 11:30am and walked to the San Lorenzo market. A canopy covered street filled with tons of booths filled with local goods. The smell of leather wafted abound. Purses, jackets and belts everywhere! None of the guys working the booths were Italian! It's was noticeable. They were from Bangladesh. All very nice and friendly. had plenty of time to chat with them while Cristi went to find a bank to pay for her 20 scarves she bought! Then we went into the beautiful Central Market. The most gorgeous displays of food I've ever seen. Meats, fruits, veggies, pastas, oils,pastries! So colorful. Then upstairs to the "Food Court". All freshly cooked to order food stations. Several bars too. We decided to share a caprese type salad on french bread and a glass of wine. Went back to the room for our half hour nap. Took one of those Japanese green tea energy pills and we were off again! Walked toward il Duomo , the lines to get in were incredibly long, so we skipped it. We did some shopping behind and around it. Got a couple of rosarys. We had an aperol spritzer at Scudieri on the piazza of il duomo, walked more to see Basilica of Santa Maria Novella, continued on along the river to Ponte Vecchio. Shopped for gold cross at one of the hundred jewelry stores. Lots of people everywhere. Had dinner at Giubbe Rose on another piazza. Cristi had pesto pasta, which was under cooked, sent it back , waited another 15 minutes for it to come back exactly the same!! Not very good. I had the carbonara which was pretty good except for the undercooked bacon pieces, ugh. There was a solo female singer that entertained. Nice voice, looked just like Terri Mannina ! We walked a different route home of course and ended up in a leather shop for Cristi to find her multi colored wallet and I found my little orange zipper pouch. Got back to the room by 10 or so.Read more