KarlaRossi: Florence

So, Florence. We arrived in Florence a day earlier than planned because I realised (luckily) that I had accidentally booked one night less than I should have in Rome..

Before we left for Florence we had one more day in Rome & being pretty sick of the heat we decided to head to Euroma2 the closest (and apparently best) shopping centre in Rome. Ahhhhh the air conditioning... Bliss. The main reason for our visit was actually that on our way to Rome from Venice we had a casualty.. Dean's pack broke. Secretly I was cheering because I have come to a quick conclusion that backpacking is really not my style, or probably anyone's who loves a sneaky shop..

Anyway, we got a new suitcase which is this awesome big black boss looking suitcase. It's one of those hard case ones and it actually locks itself with a combination which I am super impressed with... Can you tell? A whole paragraph about the suitcase.. Ha! We did buy a few other bits and pieces too!

A final sleep in our cute Rome apartment & off to Florence. Our train was delayed a good hour, which seems to be the standard here.. Not one train has been on time so far!

Our extra night in Florence actually worked out well as when I was checking my bank to see if I had paid when I booked months ago, I noticed they debited me twice so it was already covered. Gotta be happy with that..

We spent our first afternoon in Florence looking around, visiting Duomo & Ponte Vecchio. Unfortunately no purchases at the gold stores, or Rolex :( one day! I did however buy a beautiful faux-Celine bag at the markets, its beautiful soft Italian leather.. Then I seen it in another colour a few stalls down so I got that one too... Whoops! I'm now not allowed to buy another bag for at least 5 years according to Dean.

The bags...

We had an absolutely delicious dinner, pizza for Dean & for me some prosciutto, mozzarella, & bruschetta... It was so fresh, the mozzarella was deliciously fluffy and covered in olive oil, one of my favourite meals so far!

After dinner we headed to a highly recommended cocktail/karaoke bar called Red Garter. We never intended on having a big night but managed to meet a few other Australians & stayed until about 3am & way too many cocktails (free-poured as well)!

A huge huge sleep in and the only thing that cured my horrendous headache was a decent lasagne & a coke. Other amaaaazing Italian meal. I really need to brush up in my cooking skills when I get home.

So after dinner we looked at the markets for a while and headed back for more sleep. After an hour or so of online surfing, catching up on Facebook etc we both decided we were hungry again, so got dressed and went out for second dinner. Haha. Yes, second dinner. Another pasta for me & pizza for Dean. It was great! I love holidays!

So today, we woke up ready to head to Cinque Terre via Pisa.. On our arrival to Pisa (two trains later because the first one broke & we had to turn back?) it was absolutely bucketing down with rain so we skipped the outdoor tower activities and boarded our next train.

Finally, more train delays later we arrived. We found our apartment easily, the only downside is it is up a million stairs (I'll try to count tomorrow between my gasps for air). It's a beautiful little apartment about 300m from the water, with our own outdoor patio area, water views, kitchen, lounge room etc! I'm glad it's really equipped because after our weeks of heat & looking forward to this amazing beach time, you guessed it- it's raining! And it's supposed to storm for the next three days! Boo you Mother Nature (but not really, please please send me a little sunshine)!

The view...