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Tuesday 17 September 2013

A City for Dreamers...: Florence 2



                                                The Coach taking in the sights.....

 My desire to visit Florence was fuelled by 2 very solid reasons : my aunt... who is staying there and "Inferno" by Dan Brown....
.....and that could also be the reason for the very many Americans in town... (for Dan Brown...they most likely don't know my aunt as lovely and charming as she is.) 
I was told by her friend, the equally charming Patrizia ( a professor of "Wine and Food" at the University) that "Inferno" packages are now on offer to visit the Florentine sites in the footsteps of the illustrious Professor Langdon ... in seersucker instead of Harris Tweeds and hopefully without being chased by Big men with lil' guns.  

Avanti!:

My first priority was to find the main shopping street....the "Designer' hood" of sorts and that is along Via Tornabuoni...
There you will find the Italian greats such as Gucci,Pucci and Ferragamo...the latter 2 natives of Florence. There is also a Ferragamo museum and hotel: The Gallery Hotel Art which has a fabulous outdoor section for drinks and snacks....very chic.
We happened upon the Cavalli store with its adjoining Cafe....and the soon to be opened COS (as previously mentioned in another post.)
There is a large variety of stores but I didn't come across any major finds....then again we were hardly there long enough. 

Chanel: overlooks the charming Piazza della Signoria that is home to the magnificent Accademia di Bella Arte....or the Uffizi for you and me, lovingly guarded by Michelangelo's cool and aloof  David.. casually flaunting his assets to all and sundry....then again not much there to fill his Armani briefs.

"He has more locks around his penis than I have on my head!..." stated the Coach with gusto.
" But look how they curl! " I exclaim...."he must shampoo with L'Oreal...."



Back to earth and us mere mortals who love to shop in a more affordable manner,head to the lovely Piazza della Repubblica. There the hustle and bustle is both chic and contagious and people watchers heaven.You will find Zara, H&M, Pinko and the upscale department store Rinascente...which was disappointingly packed to the rafters with French designers: Zadig.....Comptoire des Cotoniers......Sandro......S by Rykiel.....YADDAH YADDAH YADDAH...Phooey!


               THE BASILICA SANTA MARIA NOVELLA ....under the blisteringly hot sky 














PONTE VECCHIO:
Aaah! The magical Ponte Vecchio and its jewellery stores ...you cross it feeling like you are stepping forwards and yet backwards in time. You've got to experience it for yourselves...it is quite engaging. 


TAKEN FROM THE PONTE VECCHIO



ON THE PONTE VECCHIO





Don't want to overload you.....
So....Tune in domani !