Eating My Heart Out in Florence

Today was a really good day here in Florence. It was warm, it was sunny, and it was beautiful. My friend and I walked all around the city and got a lot done. We started by walking to the other side of the river. This was one of the streets, where the American cafe is. It was really nice because not many people were on this street today (usually it's pretty busy but many businesses close on Sunday).

When we got to the other side of the river (crossing the Ponte Vecchio even though it was crowded with a million tourists), we went to our favorite pizza place.. Gusta Pizza! We've already gone several times and it's always the same man at the cash register, so today they made our pizzas in the shape of a heart. Last time, I had a pizza with spicy salami which was amazing but today I decided to try the Gusta Pizza which had basil, cherry tomatoes, and slices of fresh mozzarella.. Yummy!

On our way back across the Ponte Santa Trinita (one bridge over from the Ponte Vecchio) I snapped this pic of the Ponte Vecchio.

From there, it was off to some of the leather stands near the Ponte Vecchio, though we didn't find anything there.

On the way home, we went to the leather market near school and my apartment and wandered around for a little while. Then, we went to what I was looking forward to... the chocolate festival!

The festival is until February 15, and it will be VERY dangerous because it right around the corner from my apartment! There were about 10-15 stands there where vendors were selling truffles, chocolate covered fruit, chocolate bars, Valentine's Day goodies, jams, and really good chocolate butter creams (I got a pistachio white chocolate one in honor of my grandfather who loved pistachio!!)

Of course, I had to try the Italian version of hot chocolate. I think it's one of those things that gets lost in translation because Italian hot chocolate is literally melted chocolate with panna (kind of like a whipped cream) on top. It was really good but even in a small cup it was way too heavy and made me feel a little sick so I had to take a nap.

I also got ahead on my Italian Cinema homework... We are going into week 5 and I'm already up to week 11 homework-wise... Oh boy! 

Ciao for now!