Rome to Florence – Christmas in Europe

One week into the trip and we’re getting accustomed to early morning departures when it’s still dark.  The journey wasn’t too long and by 11:00 a.m. we had arrived in Firenze.  First stop of the morning was at the Peruzzi leather factory for the usual demonstration followed by time for shopping.  If you were looking for leather goods, this shop is huge and sells bags, shoes, jackets, belts, etc.  Tony actually wanted to spend money here as he needed a brown hand bag but didn’t find any that suited.  The last time we were in Florence, I bought this really elegant Moschino jacket.  As we didn’t see anything that we absolutely must have we left the shop and spent time walking around town.  There was a market in the square in front of the Duomo, however this Christmas market mostly had food for sale.  One of the stalls had a very nice fig slice.  It was very delicious, dense and lasted us for a few days. 

At 3 p.m. we did a city walking tour which culminated at the Galleria dell’ Accademia, home to Michelangelo’s David.  The statue is so perfect and it was good that we could sit for a while and just admire it.

Our hotel tonight, the Santa Croce di Malta, is quite small and basic.  After a whole day in the outdoors, it was a welcomed relief to have dinner in tonight.

Helen