Week in Florence – Day 5
I was just thinking, it’s really day 6 considering I arrived here on Sunday.
I am feeling much improved today, and was happy to meet one of my Australian Instagram & Facebook friends in Florence today. Her name is Paola Bacchia and she has a beautiful blog called Italy On My Mind. I came across Paola thanks to another Australian living in Rome, Maria Pasquale who is a food and travel writer, and her blog is HeartRome. Both these talented ladies are nominees in the Best Living in Italy blog category in the 2015 Italy Magazine Blog Awards, so I suggest you check out both their blogs and vote for them. The weirdest thing though was that while I was wandering around Florence with Paola, my twin sister Lisa just happened to be having dinner at the same restaurant in Melbourne, Australia as Maria! It really is a small small world!
Paola and I met and started the morning with a scrumptious breakfast at Caffè Gilli in Piazza della Repubblica. This is another stunning historical bar which I strongly suggest you visit, even if it’s just to admire the décor and their pastries and traditional panforte. Being Christmas, there were beautifully wrapped panettone throughout plus the usual sweets and decadent chocolates also for sale. I went with the intention of buying panforte though. I bought 3 ‘pieces’ you could say… and spent €50.00 ! I will wait to taste them, although the most expensive, and traditionally wrapped one is to be a little Christmas present for someone who I know will appreciate it a lot. I think I’m going to try and make it though so stay tuned!
I then took Paola to the department store, La Rinascente, because if you go to the top floor and walk through the little restaurant, you will find stairs leading to a roof top terrace which offers breathtaking views of the city. Stunning photographs to be had from every angle, plus the bonus that the whole terrace was decorated for Christmas – pure magic!
Back to Rome tomorrow afternoon for me. Matteo and Thomas were easy this afternoon and I have our little routine down like clockwork. I managed to get the laundry done, tidied the house and even cleaned the bathroom. I’m going to let you all in on a little secret though, I can’t wait to enjoy my sleep in on Sunday morning in my own bed. Then I better start my Christmas shopping and get back into the kitchen. I think this blog has rambled on enough this week without a recipe in sight!