Day 5 – Cloud 9

This morning I was woken up by sunlight dancing from my eyelids, my sparkling diamond was redirecting all the rays straight into my eyes to kindly wake me up. Lol.

Like yesterday morning, Louis went to the shop whilst I wrote the blog and ate some Lindt chocolate in the bath tub. After some technical issues leading to us losing the blog and having to rewrite, we were ready for a chilled day ahead. We had planned to visit Asmana, a spa on the outskirts of Florence, but due to a lazy morning and still places in the centre that we wanted to visit, we decided to give it a miss. It will definitely be first on my bucket list the next time I’m back!

We walked over the Ponte Vecchio, and headed into the centre where we found a market with lots of authentic leather goods on show. Even though I’m a veggie, I must admit I did like the smell of the leather and Louis continued to remind me that it’s dead cow.

A few pictures later of the key landmarks… with my ring and it was time for lunch. In Bath, there is a restaurant called Absurd Bird which does the most delicious, mouth watering vegan chicken burger. I honestly can’t describe to you how good it is. Anyway, before coming to Italy, I was checking if there was an Absurd Bird in Milan or Florence or anything similar. I came across Flower Burger. I persuaded Louis to lay off the pizza and try this place. Although it was nowhere near as good as Absurd Bird, it did have funky coloured burger buns so it made up for it!

After lunch, we visited Pitti Palace. Pitti Palace was another Royal residence back in the day. It has a corridor – The Vasari Corridor – which goes from here, across the Ponte Vecchio, through the Uffizi gallery and to the other palace we visited yesterday. Apparently this was for the royal family to go to and from as they please without being on public view. In 2016, this corridor was closed to tourists due to safety issues, but it opens again next year. Robert Langdon in ‘Inferno’ also used this passage to flee from the cops etc.

When we were finished exploring the palace, we went for a dander through the Bobili gardens. There were lots of hills to climb so the burger at lunch was quickly burnt off. Before heading back into town, we enjoyed the sun and sat by a pond and waterfall, watching the little ducks race around. I couldn’t help but think what lucky ducks they are to be in such a beautiful garden. On a less so lucky note, Louis heard that Jordan Henderson has had an injury and will be out for 3 weeks. As a Liverpool fan, Louis was disappointed to hear this news so I thought an Aperol Spritz would cheer him up nicely. Time to hit the bar!

On the way to the bar, Louis suddenly said, “hurry, we need to hurry!” Surely he can’t be that eager for a drink, I thought. The tourists that mistook Louis as an advisable local the night before were passing us again and Louis was scared incase they did find a ticket attached to their car yesterday – we made a fast get away.

Every trip we go on we buy a little rope bracelet. We both wear these and the promise is, the first person to lose, break or take theirs off has to pay for the next trip back to the city. Currently I owe Louis a trip back to Paris. Anyway, I gave in and got another one. I’ll be soldering this one on for sure!

After a quick drink and slice of pizza it was time for our daily siesta. I must admit, I am enjoying these. There really is nothing better than crawling back into bed after a busy day of sightseeing. When we woke up, it was time to get ready for our final night in Italy. I had googled some recommendations and found a restaurant near by, that over looked the Ponte Vecchio and advertised a jazz pianist. After persuading Louis to relax and trust my choice, we were off.

When we arrived we were greeted with a glass of champagne. I could see Louis starting to worry. Although there were bottles of wine for €3000 plus, we obviously opted for the €30 euro option. After all, we’ve a wedding to be saving for, yeoo! We shared some bruschetta to start and Louis had a fillet steak. When asked how he wanted it, he said “raw, medium – raw” I couldn’t hold my laughter in and had to correct him, “you mean rare?”. He will be getting “beef” for this one! Incase you’re wondering, I had some fresh tortellini. Some being the key word. I could have had the same three times more. Nevertheless, it was delicious. Quality over quantity I suppose. The music was meant to begin at 8.30pm. It was 9pm and I couldn’t hear any so I kindly asked the waiter when the music was starting. Of course her response was “Oh I’m sorry there will be no music tonight as there is a corporate event on”. Just my luck!

With my promise of jazz music in shatters, Louis took matters into his own hands and guided me down a back street in Florence, to what looked like a closed cafe with a doorbell. When Louis rang it, a girl, who looked like she just woke up from her own siesta answered. After a few awkward broken English sentences we were accepted in and signed up for membership. Louis had stumbled across a hidden ‘Speakeasy bar’ called Vanilla Club. Exclusively for members, they clearly saw my sparkly ring and thought these tourists might buy a few cocktails tonight, why not?

The inside was lit by a few candles and it felt like you were transported back to the Prohibition times (which Louis explained to me why these bars started up). The barman came and sat down with us to ask what we liked to drink and went about making cocktails for us, some which included absinthe. The fact that they peaked out the window when the bell rang and everyone smoking inside, it really didn’t feel like a legitimate bar.

Despite this, we enjoyed the cocktails and the live jazz music, featuring a guitarist, drummer and pianist. A brilliant night at the mafia club but it was time to leave – we’ll be back now that we have our own membership! It was an early start in the morning and we hadn’t packed, so one last walk over the Ponte Vecchio and a wave goodbye to Florence and another chapter nearly comes to the end.