I love love LOVE stumbling upon markets and festivals, and I came across TWO last week! The first was this awesome International Market that was set up in the piazza in front of Santa Croce. Rows and rows of tents lined the piazza with different products, food, and more from different European countries. It was so cool to see all the various things and to sample all the delicious delicacies. It was really hard to resist buying something from each stand, but I reminded myself that it would be a lot more authentic to buy all this stuff in the actual country that it came from. All in all it was just a really cool experience. I ended going back for the two other remaining days of the festival with different friends. I also came across a really cool pottery festival on my way home from class one day. There were such gorgeous pieces of art for sale; just a little out of my price range. I just love happening upon that stuff that I know will only be around for a short amount of time.
I am going to be gone from Florence for the next two weekends (on a chocolate pilgrimage to Switzerland and Perugia) so my friends and I decided that we wanted to make the most of our weekend here and do some things in town that we don't get to do during the week. Saturday afternoon a group of us took the bus up to Fiesole; a quaint little town overlooking Florence and beyond. The short, 25-minute bus ride dropped us off in the "city" center and from there we wandered among huge villas to find a good lookout point. What gorgeous views we found! We spent some time wandering around a residential area and then found some hiking trails. We had planned on hiking down but realized that it would have been a lot longer than we had thought it would be. It was such a gorgeous day out that we got us some paninis and lounged in the sun in the main piazza before heading back to Florence. My good friend from school, Allison, who is studying abroad in Rome, was visiting Florence with her roommates for the weekend. I was able to meet up with them for dinner and we went to a great little place called "Osteria del Gatto e la Volpe" (the cat & the fox) where I had delicious lasagna bolognese. We ended the night at our new favorite Irish pub "The Old Stove" with some tasty Strongbow.
Sunday morning, after sleeping in, Colleen and I went to Boboli Gardens. The gardens are apart of Pitti Palace and offer more views of the city. We spent a good deal of time just wandering around and getting lost in the vast space. I bought myself a museum card (for 40 euros I can go to all state museums) and I can use it at the Gardens. I am excited to return there with a good book on a nice fall day!
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