Florence: The Day of 3 Breakfasts!

So we (Andrea, Emily and I) woke up in Rome before the crack of dawn to catch a 6:15 am train to Florence.  The plan was to get to Florence early enough to drop off our bags at the hostel and find where to meet our Tuscany bike tour.
Breakfast #1: Pastry and coffee at Rome train station. (6:15am)

Duomo in Florence

Ponte Veccio (spelling??) in Florence before the storm

We arrived in Florence, walked to our hostel, dropped off our bags.  We were walking around and decided if we were going to be on a strenuous bike tour through Tuscany we would need some more to eat than just a pastry 3 hours earlier.  So we looked in some cafes and picked one out that had the cutest old couple working!  It was a tiny yet engergetic italian man, and his fluffy looking wife who pretty much wore a mumu.  They were adorable! 
Breakfast #2: Sandwich at "Grandpa's Cafe" (we called it that, not the real name). (9:00am)

I like to call this picture "Gluttony".  At "Grandpa's Cafe".

We get to the bike tour place and discover it was cancelled due to severe thunderstorms in the area.  (The sky did look scary).  As we were walking around trying to figure out how to spend the day in Florence it started pouring down rain.  By chance we happen to be right by "Grandpa's Cafe", so of course we had to stop back in.  The old man was, of course, very happy to see the 3 young American women again.  He kept talking to us in Italian and we'd smile, don't know what he said.  We wanted to avoid getting drenched, and the had these amazing looking canolis...
Breakfast #3:  Canoli and cappacino at "Grandpa's Cafe" (9:45 am).
*Don't worry, we ate here twice more before leaving Italy!



Cute old people who run cafe.  I had to sneak a pic.

 That is how 3 breakfasts can happen.  I dont think I ate lunch that day though.  But I mean let's be honest, eating amazing food is like the main reason one comes to Italy anyway, right?!?!  We ended up wondering around seeing the Duomo and going to the market.  After some drama with my debit card being frozen due to "suspicious spending" (I had to call them an assure them that "yes, that is all me spending that much, turn back on my card"), we checked into the hostel.

The hostel was very highly rated and it really did not disappoint!!  It was right off the square where the duomo was and I could actually see the duomo from our window.  Plus, it was very clean!  Emily and I stayed separate from Andrea due to difference in booking times.  Hostels are a weird thing.  They put strangers into a room together, no regard to gender, and people generally are pretty cool.  Most are in their 20's and are just looking for a cheap way to travel Europe.  Of course, you must be on your guard for creepers and you should lock your stuff in the lockers (basically don't be an idiot, they're still strangers).  But overall in all my Europe trips I havn't really run across any problems with the hostel clientel.

That evening we walked around some more.  The 3 of us ended up at a restaurant and having a fabulous meal!  Caprese (tomato and cheese), pizza, and tiaramasu!  We learned a valuable lesson too: get a bottle of good wine first, then order the house wine (it makes the house wine taste better that way!). 

Me walking around Florence after dinner.

Florence is a great city to just relax and walk around.  The only downside is that there are TONS of tourists.  Though we had to move the day of the bike tour it was still a nice day in Florence.