Well, this was Chris' last day in Italy so we wanted to make it extra special.
We started the day with waking up at 5:30 in order to catch our train in time and we made it to the station in Naples with plenty of time to spare. We both spent the three hours traveling in and out of sleep. It was super difficult to be comfortable on the train so we didn't get very good sleep which was annoying but obviously not that big of a deal. We walked back to the apartment to drop off our bag and have breakfast of cocoa puffs and coffee. The Messina's (my roommate’s parents) came when we were in the middle and Chris was able to talk sports with Mr. Messina and Courtney. He had been deprived of sports talk all week, I felt so bad for the poor guy, but obviously not too bad.
When they were done, we went to the San Lorenzo food market and leather market to finish shopping for different things that Chris had not been able to get yet. The food market was closed when we went last Sunday so he was finally able to see the inside of the market, including all of the lampredotto and cow's noses in the cases. Gross. We finished with the leather market and headed back to the apartment so we could drop off all of his goodies before we went to the antique market.
On the way to the market, we got boilito paninis which are boiled beef and apparently something else that is a famous Florentine dish. They were boiled beef sandwiches and delicious. With the parsley salsa on ours, they were the perfect sandwich. The famous antique market was a lot smaller than we thought it was going to be which was a bummer but we both found things from there that we purchased. It was very interesting to see all of the different things there that the vendors were trying to sell. The market was very similar to American antique markets where there was a lot of interesting finds and a lot of, well for lack of better words, crap. It of course was more interesting because all of the things were Italian, or at least we assumed they were, so it made even the crap even a little bit more romantic. On our way home, we went by the supermarket that I go to and got our supplies for dinner. Picnic's hold a special place in our heart and we figured that a picnic would be the perfect way to end our amazing week that we had together. We got bread, goat cheese, grapes, salami, prosciutto, and wine.
We came back to the apartment to drop off our dinner materials and realized that Chris should pack before we headed to church. It was horrible and so sad to watch him pack and check in for his flight. After he packed, we still had a little bit of time left so we played some cards because there wasn't really enough time to do anything or go anywhere, just about fifteen minutes or so.
We went to church at the Duomo and I was finally able to go inside. To be honest, I was a little disappointed. I thought it was going to be covered in paintings on all the walls and decked out in statues and marble. It wasn't. It was the perfect amount of paintings and statues and had stained glass on every window. The Duomo is massive and is one of the most beautiful churches I have ever been inside of. The mass was a little boring because there was no singing, but it was nice to be able to understand a sermon for the first time in the eight Sundays that I have been here. The sermon was interesting because it was about not giving up faith in God and the church if a priest were to make a mistake, for priests are human and have times of weakness, and it really just seemed like he had done something terrible recently and this was his way of confessing. However, the message was still true!
On the way back to the apartment we got a waffle treat that are all over Florence. It is a waffle with what ever topping you decide, usually either fruit, nutella, or whipped cream. We decided to get one because neither of us had ever had one before and as the register dinged at 8 euro for our total, we realized we had been dooped into another tourist trap. It was a good waffle, but let's be honest here, I can make one just as easy as they did. Oh well, it was a good first and a good last for the waffle experience and we can at least say that we got one.
With our appetites being completely shot, we went back to the apartment and played cards. I know most of you are thinking, "why the hell are they playing so many cards on their last night in Florence?" And the answer is very simple, it is one of our favorite things to do with each other. It is a great way to spend quality time together and since we were both so pooped from the go go go of the week, we just wanted to relax and enjoy each others' company. In our opinion, it was yet another perfect element to our last night together.
Finally around 8 or so, we made our way to the Piazza della Signorina to listen to the guitar player and eat our dinner together. We finished dinner and danced as she played her sweet songs, it was so romantic. After dinner we came back to the apartment and put the left overs in the fridge then went down to get his last serving of gelato for the trip. We got some delicious flavors, I got lampone and amaretto (raspberry and almond) Chris got tiramisu and frutti di bosco. After gelato we wandered the streets looking in the windows of different shops and just spent more time together. Once we were done getting lost for a little, we went back to the apartment and played cards and made sure everything was packed and ready to go in the morning for when we woke up at 4:30. It was a perfect day and a perfect way to end the wonderful vacation.
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