now to blog abt florence
gosh, i think by the time i finish on italy alone, i'll probably give up blogging about it
so anyways
mm
florence
beautiful place, but i guess saying that is of no point, cos most er tourist friendly places in italy generally are
so much different from singapore
did i ever say i hate singapore?
there's nothing to do, almost nothing to see
the air is warm and humid, u walk a bit and u get drenched
the mozzys strike at the worse possible times
its boring and its irritating
gosh
so anyways
back to florence which is beautiful
they have the biggest church dome ever
the duomo, which i think just means big church dome or something
although i think the duomo's of the vatican and milan are much nicer looking from the outside
this one is the highest
and guess what
no lift
they have to be the special one's who decide that a lift would not be aesthetic
its a nice long climb up
winding staircases, constricted passageways which slant sidewards
so u have to walk leaning diagonally for some stretches
430something steps
and some of the flights of steps seem to go on around and around forever
good for the claustrophobic at heart
at least u die somewhere high up in a church
hahaha
near to God
anyways

florence is famous for some amazing art galleries
which if u ask me
are too full of beautiful artwork
too many beautiful ceilings as well
they have so many statues
they put some out in the normal corridors
mmm

florence is also famous for its leather market
which is like a flea market
just that flea markets usually dont have so many leather goods
san lorenzo market is dotted by leather stores(kinda makeshift) but u need a license
and they usually have a leather workshop round the back
where u can walk in and see huge sheets of leather still being cut
its an experience in itself to haggle with these people for their leather goods
you can hear all sorts of reasons for "discounts"
all sorts of people sell leather there
we even met this aussie lady who was selling bags there
i suspect ppl go there and sell leather for a few years just to meet people

the food is also pretty good
theres ribolitta which is a "soup", a vegan one, though it seems more like paste, which u eat with bread
or at least they give u bread under the cover charge
then there's bistecca alla florentina
which is a huge slab of beef,
which must be thick
so they grill it
so the outsides are slightly burnt while the inside is raw
gelato's also pretty good
slightly better than rome
i think
although the best was venice


there was also this nice leather and book store, which sells handmade leather bound books

there were also alot artisans in certain districts
whom peddle their wares in unadvertised, unlabeled workshops
from custom chess sets
to specialty glove shops
to modern sculptures

mmmm
oh wells
my body is still aching from the trial bjj lesson
i think im going off now