Day 18: More Gelato!

Did I mention how much I love our hostel in Florence? And they have such a nice breakfast spread (included!) in the morning! The Nutella packets are so cute too!

Nutella, croissant, and wafer thing for breakfast!

In the morning, we tried to go to the Accademia Gallery to see Michelangelo's David, but when we got there there was a HUGE line. And upon standing in it for a few minutes, we learned that the museum workers had actually gone on strike and thus the museum wouldn't be opening until 11AM! (It was 10:40 when we got there) So we decided to save it for tomorrow, and instead we headed over to the Mercato Centrale, a large market with produce and dried goods. It was really neat seeing all the stalls, and I ended up buying fruit (peaches and cherries), biscotti, and dried fruit! (Bought some dried kiwi, but haven't tried it yet!)

Watching the machine make tortellini!

Afterwards, we went to our first gelateria of the day. It was only 1 euro for a small! So cheap! I got stracciatella, as always. Afterwards, we went to a well-rated sandwich shop that was rated #1 on tripadvisor! It's called All'Antico Vinaio, and it's so popular there was a line outside! I got focaccia bread, with black truffle cream (delicious!), mozarella, tomatoes, lettuce, and prosciutto. The prosciutto was sooo good! And the sandwich was huge, and only 5 euros! Afterwards, we walked to Santa Croce, and then a Synagogue! We visited the Synagogue to see the architecture (it was recommended in a guidebook Stephanie was looking at), which also included a Jewish museum. It was a really interesting experience!

Sandwich shop! Yummmm

Also found this gem of a shirt!

In the afternoon, we met up with Linda and Bryan, who are studying abroad in Florence! We visited the Duomo (Santa Maria del Fiore), and climbed up to the top of the dome! The climb was pretty strenuous, but the views were so worth it! Afterwards, we got our 2nd gelato of the day at "Porche No" a recommended gelateria that home made their gelato daily. But, couldn't tell that big of a difference from the other places we've eaten haha.

Paintings on the top of the Dome

Views from the Dome!

Cherry and Stracciatella!

At night, Linda invited us over to their friends' apartment (who are also in the EAP program) for dinner! We got to see the inside of an Italian apartment! Theirs was actually super cute, and really spacious! Although they had ghetto stove tops that needed to be lighted with a lighter haha. After a lot of cooking (and Steph and I feeling pretty useless just watching) the dinner was ready, and we all sat down to eat together! Probably the healthiest meal I've had in a while haha.

Homemade dinner!

On our way home, we were super close to another really famous gelateria (Carraia), so we got our THIRD gelato of the day! Feeling full, fat, and happy, we walked back to our hostel and got ready to wake up early tomorrow to visit the Accademia before we leave Florence!

Piazza della Signoria at night! (There's a fake David statue, but it was where the original statue was housed in historic times)

Also, forgot to mention this earlier, but THERE ARE TOILET SEAT COVERS IN THE BATHROOM OF OUR HOSTEL! This is the first time I've seen toilet seat covers in Europe! No joke. This seriously is the cleanest hostel we've stayed in so far haha.

Another note, over half the time we're asked about our ethnicity in Europe, people always ask: "Japanese or Korean?" Do Chinese people not exist to them? o.O Although we've run into a fair number of Koreans travelling on their own, and it seems that the Chinese travelers are usually in big tour groups haha.