Balsamic is a reserve currency right?

Catching up a bit – a late dinner last night meant I didn’t get a blog post up.

Yesterday was a day of milling about and exploring further. Most importantly, this meant a trip to the Mercato Centrale, wherein I buy far too much balsamic and giggle the whole time. We also loaded up on picnic supplies. The most interesting purchase was a tub of very ripe baby strawberries. I don’t really know how these come to exist – they’re almost liquid and collapse when you grab them. An interesting experience, though I’m more than happy with the normal sized strawberries from a few provinces south.

After dropping off our purchases, we set out for Stefan. Stefan is a home goods store – think of a small and very crappy version of Walmart. It’s a chain, which has been in dire financial straits since 2012 and just (as in, last week) was dissolved and transferred to a variety of owners. The ambience of the store, never particularly great, reflects said situation. Tablecloths were purchased though, so mother will be happy. If I had to bet, I would say this will be the last round of Stefan tablecloths…

A picnic lunch back at home, then a trip to Santa Croce. Kat had never been, and I generally think it’s an under-appreciated site.

A quick visit to the duomo museum – under serious construction at the moment, and mostly off limits – brought us to the Biblioteca Della Oblate, a library near the duomo. Our AirBnB host tipped us off to the fact that there’s a cafe on the top floor with great views of the duomo. And indeed there was. A good “insider tip,” as we never would have found the library (or persevered through the very confusing signage to find our way to the top) otherwise.

We made the most of a soggy day in Florence. If the internet is to be trusted, it should be the last of our totally rainy days during the visit. So for now, we’re off in search of more gelato.