|
|
|
After arriving in Florence we did a quick tour before heading to our hotel and then out for dinner.
20/12/05
Today was an early start to see the sights of Florence starting with a trip to the a Leather factory to visit a very knowledgable man who taught us how to tell the difference between genuine and fake leather if we were considering buying any while in Florence. One of these included the way it would react if you were to set it alight - now I don't know how many leather dealers would appreciate it if we walked into their shop and starting setting alight to their leather (especially with the explanation of 'I just wanted to see if it was geniune') hmmmm....
Next we set off on a walking tour with one of the native Italians, she took us around the centre of the city showing us the Duomo, the replica of David and some strange looking colourful cows that were strategically placed in the middle of the Florence streets!! Next stop was the Ponte Vechio bridge which currently holds 48 jewellery stores and is the only bridge that wasn't destoyed in World War II. On the bridge there is a gate where people write their names on locks and lock them to it. The locks are placed there by lovers locking their love. Legend has it that if lovers place a lock on the Ponte Vecchio and toss the key into the Arno River, their love will last forever. Needless to say there is a store on the bridge that purely sells locks - the man makes a fortune - who would have thought! So while I was so intrigued with the locks on the gate my tour went missing and I didn't know where to find them so I wandered off and did some shopping before heading back to the hotel to meet the rest of the tour for dinner. Tomorrow we head to Pisa....
previous travel blog entry
Would you like to comment or ask a question?
Sign up for a free account, or sign in (if you're already a member).