Restful weekend...just in time, because Megan Money herself has arrived!

It’s crazy how much this city changes at different points in the day and during the weekend. In the early morning, the Pastry places are open, but stores and restaurants are not.  A bit later in the day, still morning-ish, the shops open up. The leather markets that line certain streets are set up and ready for business around 9am and remain open and crowded till about 6pm, when they are all packed up and the streets become quiet. Areas look completely different depending on what time it is. Throughout the day shops open and close at random times and it varies from day-to-day. Many museums and sites remain open on Sunday, but stores are not open. Most places, both shops and museums are closed on Monday’s—most notable Gusta Pizza, aka the best pizza ever.

Anyways, I stayed here this weekend and it was quite a different experience from the weekday. There were significantly fewer people in the city and the pace was slowed down considerably, which was just what I needed. All of the girls I live were gone on various trips Saturday, except for my roommate Dana and I. We decided that it was a good shopping day since we were both exhausted from a busy week of school (for her…she’s actually taking academic classes) and I of sightseeing. We roamed through the leather market and a couple of actual leather stores. In one I even helped the shop keeper text his American “girlfriend”… he needed major help and I’m really not convinced that she thought of him as her boyfriend. Nonetheless, it was entertaining and he would have given us a good deal on a purse but we didn’t love any of them.

We continued to walk around town and found this make up store and indulged in some much needed pampering. We spent the rest of the day relaxing… well she had to study, I just skyped and cooked.

Later that night we met up with our friends who went on a day horseback-riding trip in the Tuscany hills. They made friends with two Italian’s who told them of all the best things to do in Florence, and invited them to a rooftop terrace bar for drinks that night. They invited Dana and I, so we met up with them at the Ponte Vecchio. The rooftop bar was on top of the Ferragamo hotel right next to the Ponte Vecchio, over looking the Arno River. It was absolutely beautiful watching the sunset over the Arno and across the city. We went to another bar, Lions Fountain afterwards, but the weekends here are so dead that we all called it quits early and were home by 11pm. My Italian neighbor explained that all the tourists leave during the weekend and all of the Italians head to the coasts, leaving the city nightlight quite… no wonder Monday, Tues, and Wednesday seem to be the best nights.

Sunday was another relaxing shopping day! Dana and I met up with our friend Brielle to do a bit more shopping. I was able to buy some presents and Dana and I got beautiful rings from a place right by the Ponte Vecchio! I’m so excited to have something to remember Florence by! After we went to Gusta Pizza and I had literally the BEST pizza ever… and I don’t even eat the cheese. Ill definitely be making a trip back there.

Later I got a facebook message from Megan, my big sis in my sorority from back home that she and her friends were finally in Florence and would be at an Irish pub on my street to watch the woman’s world cup final game. I brought my neighbors and met up with them and then continued down to a different bar that was actually playing the game. I’m soo excited that Megan’s in town and her friends are super fun to hang out. They are here till the 25^th, so no doubt there will be many more fun times!