Exploring the Rennassaince... And shopping....

First full day in Firenze! This morning, I got up before Kelly and Sharon (typical) and went down the street to pick up some Frizzante water (or bubbly water as my brother calls it) and some yogurt (Italian breakfasts are very small). I was incredibly proud of myself, as I purchase everything with my limited Italian. Once everyone got ready, we headed over to the other side of the river and went to a little rooftop cafe in a little library for breakfast. We had a view of Bruneleschi's famous dome, and I remembered why I love Italy - cafe lattes are like 1.5 euros and cornettos (their version of a croissant) is less than a euro. LOVE IT. After breakfast, we took a rick steves walking tour (which means I was reading from my kindle as well as adding in random facts from my time here). Kelly and Sharon think it's hilarious that I'm basically their tour guide. Anyways, we started at the duomo, then the baptistry, orsanmichelle (an awesome old church that actually used to be a granary - beautiful sculptures line the outside), onto the palazzo vecchio and the sculptures outside the Uffizi. Sharon and Kelly learned a whole lot about the Italian Renaissance, which was not only many years before any other country's renaissance, but also essentially gave birth to modern culture. Florence is rich with art and history in every direction. Then we went to Santa Croce, which is where all the big names are buried (Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli...) and did the rick steves tour there as well. After a very full morning of sightseeing, we grabbed paninis at my favorite shop (so delicious) and started wandering through the various markets. It's important to peruse all the stalls before deciding on a particular purse or wallet. We had a second coffee at the cafe in the Edison bookstore, grabbed gelato by the ponte vecchio and headed back to our apartment. Then, we met Max and Emily (friends from UCLA) for dinner! Our trips overlapped, so we had dinner with them and then we all hiked up to San Miniato to watch the sunset over the city. 'Twas a glorious Florence day. Molto bene! It is incredible to be back in this city and I am so pleased that I know my way around so well. I am definitely falling in love with Firenze all over again. Ah. Florence has my heart.