Day 25 - Gone Walkabout

Last night I went up to the bronze David with a couple guys from the hostel. It's a pretty nice view up there. You can see a few of the major landmarks well lit up, and the lights along the river make a nice snakey countour as well. It was a walk, and I haven't stopped walking much.

• Follow the River. That's what I did most of the day. In fact, I have a picture of the sign that marks the edge of Florence as I nearly walked out of town. :) There are fabulous views all over. They put just enough homes on the hill to give them color, but never spoil the natural beauty. It must be expensive to live anywhere near here.


• Giant Supermarket. The food in town is all at tourist prices. But on the way back from the edge of town, I followed the signs pointing to a "commercial center" with a little shopping cart icon. It turned out to be the biggest supermarket I've ever seen. It's probably too far away to visit again, but I had a huge lunch (bread, apple, mediterranean salad, and a liter of juice) for three euros and seven cents. That's compared to the medium sized plate of spaghetti that cost me seven euros last night. :P


• Animals. Florence is the first semi-rural area I've been to so far, so I'm actually seeing a tiny bit of wildlife. And speaking of wildlife, my little plastic troublemaking friend has now been to his Mecca. The plastic warthog Paul gave me when we both left HP has been accompanying me on my travels. He snuck into my bags for Rio and Buenos Aires, so I figured I'd take him to Europe as well. Since he was made in China, he's still travelled more than I have. Anyway, we were coming back from our walk last night when we happened upon a plaza with a giant, drooling bronze warthog in it. This was well after dark, but there was still a line of people waiting to:
  
  
  
  1. stick their hands in its drooling mouth
  
  
  2. rub their wet hands on its nose (now worn very smooth)
  
  
  3. have their picture taken with it
  
  
  
  Obviously this is Warthog Mecca. I read today that this good luck statue is 400 years old! The world never ceases to surprise.
  

Well, I'm about out of time and I guess I really didn't do much more today than enjoy the natural wonders of bucolic Florence. There were literally dozens of tour busses at the edge of town, and the streets are lousy with other tourists. I'm partly walking so much just to tire myself out so I can get up ungodly early tomorrow for the Uffizi. See you then! :)