Italy, Part 3: Florence

So then we had to get back to Florence and the reason why we were in Italy in the first place: so Chris could fulfill his three-day work requirement. For me Florence was actually a bit of a letdown after being in the mountains. It is, of course, a city with a city's accompanying noise pollution, exhaust fumes, crowds of tourists, and people obnoxiously smoking everywhere you look. On the positive side are all the architectural masterpieces, works of art, food, wine, etc., for which Florence is known, David probably being the most well known (this one a replica, of course):

One of the things I love to do when traveling--whether in Italy, the Deep South, the Pacific NW, the Asian & Latino markets here in CA, or wherever--is to check out local supermarkets. (I know, weird.) In Florence I visited the huge central market which was loaded with meat--pork, poultry, beef, rabbit, & extensive seafood--fresh produce, pane, cheeses, wines, olives, and balsamic vinegars, all local of course. "Trippa" is very popular in Florence as are pork products in general. Nothing goes to waste--display cases showcased just about every body part/organ of each animal. (I mean, how does one eat a lung? For real?) For those of delicate sensibilities, my apologies.
Feet! Yum-O!
You could get them with the heads attached, too.
Great deals on cheeses. This was one of the more expensive--translates to around US$21 per 2.2 lbs. Not bad.
The grapes were cheap and delicious!
There were so many different kinds of mushrooms (and again, so inexpensive)...
Everything super fresh, nonwaxed, nonirradiated...
Being an anti-clothes dryer person, I liked seeing that many Italians still hang out their laundry:
More shroomies! If only we knew if these were edible...
That's about it for Italy. Our photos are here.  We'd go back there in a heartbeat, but next time we'd stay in the mountains! Caio.