A Rainy Day in Florence
I didn’t check what the weather would be like in Italy until about a week before we were leaving. The biggest reason for this is because I didn’t want to see any rain – I knew if I did, I would immediately be bummed. But, of course, when I finally did check the weather, it looked to be rain for about 10 days out of the 16 days that we would be there. What the heck!
Not a bad day in my book, even with heavy rain and thunderstorms
Up until I had checked the weather, my packing list consisted of all dresses, hardly any layers, and t-shirts. So it was a mad dash to gather any remaining items I needed – which was everything, if you asked Jordan. One of the main items I knew I needed, which weather.com kindly informed me of, was a rain jacket. I picked this one out at Lord and Taylor (currently 30% off), and I knew that it would not only be perfect for Italy, but it’s also one of those classic jackets that you will have for years. I feel like that with anything Michael Kors creates. I’m 100% in love.
Our last full say in Florence was the only day of the entire trip that it rained, and we were just fine with it. We spent the day walking around with no plans, except of course, food plans. After a long walk through town, we finally found a pastry shop that I had wanted to try, called Bar Pasticceria Piccioli. The perfect thing about this place was that it was situated away from the tourist-y area of town, additionally, everyone spoke Italian, so I knew it would be, yet another frustratingly funny experience ordering food —- side note, Jordan always sent me inside to do the ordering, I think he found it entertaining!
My order in the mornings, no matter where we were, started out with “Ciao! Due cappicini per favore,” and then I would point to what I wanted in terms of the pastries, they would hand them to me, I’d pay and say, “Grazie mille, Ciao.” This routine always seemed to work just fine! After enjoying our morning and filling our bellies with carbs, sugar, and caffeine, we decided it was time for lunch – duh. We walked over to Mercato Centrale, which is a market located in the more northern part of the city – right near the train station. We were told that it’s an experience, and that anyone visiting Florence should check it out. I honestly had higher hopes for the market, but we’re still glad we went!
There are two areas in Mercato Centrale, a downstairs shop, which is comprised of about 15 different delis; some meat and cheese, some only meat, some only cheese, wine shops, and other miscellaneous shops that we didn’t have time to check out (downstairs closes at 2PM), and an upstairs cafeteria-like area. We started downstairs, and I went to a deli that these two Italian men told me to go to, after I kindly asked them where they got their HUGE delicious-looking meat and cheese platter (I wish I took a photo so you could see it). After seeing theirs, my expectations for our plate were high, thinking we’d end up with a one similar to the theirs…fail. Somehow I ended up with two paper plates and a sad looking excuse for a meat and cheese plate! We ate it, of course, with some wine and then continued to explore. It’s not like we were hungry anyways, as we’d just come from a late breakfast.
Because the rain continued on throughout the day, and our clothes were now damp, we decided it was time to head back to our Airbnb. Jordan picked up some wine, and truffle cheese, and we hung out the rest of the afternoon and listed to music on our patio. I was fine with this, since we’d spent enough time wandering, starring at the Duomo and eating. Not a bad day in my book, even with heavy rain and thunderstorms.
P.S I was already looking forward to dinner…
XO
