Our taxi arrival was at 6:45 so I woke up at 5:45 but I was soooo warm and toasty I didn’t want to move. Man I highly recommend a personal heater by the bed when sleeping in cold rooms. Since I woke up so early I got to chat with Ben some this morning. That was a good way to start the day. It’s been hard waking up and not having ben to make my day bright first thing in the morning. He can instantly put a smile on my face and who doesn’t want to start the day with a smile? Anyway, we got ready and our taxi was here! Early! Yay! It was speedy Gonzales from last night. Again, even though he can’t speak much English, he tries really hard to help us understand him and that always means a lot to us. We like our courteous taxi driver. He got us to the train station and we waited for our 7:18 train to terontola. There we switched trains towards Firenze. This train was pretty packed but we had good seats and I took a really nice nap for once. I slept for more than an hour I think. We made it to Florence and found a McDonald’s so we could use their Wi-Fi. We did money swapping and planning and maps and social media catch up. Not having Wi-Fi and no data can be a bit of a pickle but we are thankful for places with free Wi-Fi. After planning we walked to the leather market. We weren’t sure what to expect but it was streets of booths set up with all sorts of leather goods. Purses and wallets and key chains and bracelets and jackets etc. also booths with Italian apparel and scarves and such. Behind the booths were Actual leather stores and some of them came from the stores. It was kind of confusing but we eventually figured it out. There were hardly any labeled prices so you had to just ask them and then bargain. It was actually surprising because most of the sellers were Indian and not Italian. I felt it wasn’t legit at first but the leather was definitely real and made in Italy. After looking at most of the booths I decided to buy a purse. I just didn’t want to because when I shop I like to do it at my own pace and without being bothered but that’s not how this works. Claire had been debating buying some stuff so I was observing how to best deal with the people. We finally went to one booth and I asked him about a purse. He said he’d given a student discount but it was still going to be 50 bucks and I was like hahahahaha no. So he was like okay 45 and I was like uh no. I said I would maybe do 35. Maybe. And he was like okay 40. And I was like no. Hello. 35. He was not buying it and I wasn’t either. I said okay sorry I can’t And was about to walk away and he said 38. I said I will do 35. I didn’t want to pay more than that so I prob should’ve started with 30 but oh well. He was not budging and he was frustrated so I was like oh well bye. I started walking away and he called me back and said 37 and I was like DUDE 35. He was like what’s 2 euros and I said exactly why do you need 2 more euros. And he was like it was supposed to be 50 and he kept pointing to the brand like I cared what brand it was. News flash, who cares what name is on it. Especially an Italian name. He said it’s just 2 euros and I was tired of the guy and I didn’t want to go through the process again so I relented and gave him 37. Whatever I prob could’ve gotten it cheaper but i was tired of pushy Indians at this point. It’s a very cute and nice forreal leather bag so I’m happy. After the leather market we went to the Duomo. We saw the Giovanni doors that Botticelli competed against and lost to. We also saw the dome inside that Michelangelo painted he dome of and that Botticelli figured out how to construct it. Pretty cool stuff. We went from there to the Uffizi gallery where Botticelli, gioto, Raphael, and da Vinci works are. It was super cool to see works that I’ve learned about over and over. They were very impressive. After that we went to find food. We wanted real Italian and there was an indoor food market by the leather market so we walked back to it. We thought it was closed at first but eventually found an opening. It is all the same company but they serve lots of different foods at different booths. I split a pizza with Claire and then got a cappuccino. Both were super tasty. I also got a cannoli which was good and then another cappuccino because it was so good and only 2 euro so I couldn’t pass it up. After the market we rushed to the train station so we could catch the next train back. We got on a little before departure so all the seats were filled. We stood for a while but I finally kept walking and found some seats. We almost got off at the wrong stop but we got back on the train and switched at the next stop for the right train. This train was super sketch but it took us to Perugia. We then got a taxi and went back to the house. We showered and packed and then while we were all using different electrical things, we blew the power. We couldn’t find a fuse box that would fix the problem so we had to call Mateo and then claire and Annah had to walk through their olive trees and between barbed wire to a spider webbed box to fix it. But they fixed it thankfully. I then went to bed because exhaustion is very real and very apparent.

Fun facts. Leather market sellers need to go to business school to learn how to sell because some of their techniques will never get them any business. School of Athens is in the Vatican, not the Uffizi. Good to know after I went to the Vatican and didn’t see the school of Athens. No I didn’t go see David because I picked paintings over him but I know he is beautiful. Yes I’m sad I didn’t see him but life will go on.

Shoutout. Kristin lil. Miss you gal. Thanks for loving me. Benj. Miss you boy. Thanks for loving me. Miss you both?? good luck to ben at hoop it up tonight! Wish I could watch you!!