Day 2: Does anyone know where I can buy a selfie stick?

 30,957 steps, 13.87 miles, 41 flight of stairs

We woke up feeling refreshed after 11 hours of sleep. While we weren't in a rush to get going, it was a beautiful day and it was our only full day planned in Florence--so it was time to get movin. We walked a while along the river, snapped some shots and stopped at a cheap pizza place to got some fuel. 

We walked across the ponte Vecchio then stopped for a cappuccino and caffe late, then through the gorgeous Boboli Gardens. 

Before long it was time to meet Gia, the daughter of Sierra's co-worker who is studying Art History in Florence.  We met Gia at a little chocolate shop by the Duomo, and experienced some classic Italian forward-ness as a woman was not too shy to politely slide between my chair and the wall to plug in her phone, then proceed to make several calls next to my face. Comical.  Gia shared some funny stories and some great advice, and by the end of the conversation we had just enough things to do to fill the day before sunset. 

Gia told us that the inside joke between the students is "does anyone know where I can find a selfie stick?" We laughed pretty hard because the joke is obvious when you visit Florence in 2015: every 10 feet there is an African man trying to sell you a selfie stick.  In other countries people are selling hats, scarves, chicklets, pipes shaped like penises, henna tattoos, your name written on a grain of rice...not here; here they only sell selfie sticks. It's kind of hilarious. But they must be selling because the sellers are in business, and almost as prevalent as those selling are Asians using selfie sticks for selfies from all angles, in front of virtually everything. 

We went on to see a piazza where an old soccer game had been played the night before, and tried a slice of pizza with pesto, marinara, mozzarella and cherry tomatos. Gia said it was the best in town, and she must be right. We then walked across the river, took more pictures, then hiked up to to a viewpoint that was pretty magnificent. Can't remember the name, but it was well worth it!  Some fantastic shots and video taken. 

After spending ample time taking that in, we traverse back down and across the river once again to the Uffizi Museum.  There were some amazing sculptures and paintings, and we enjoyed seeing beautiful artwork from the 15th century, but we didn't linger all too long. Time for dinner. 

Once again we were having an early American-timed dinner at 7pm. We searched high and low and couldn't find the restaurant Gia recommended, but found one with a similar name. Sure enough, it was the right one because we immediately recognized the waiter who looked "very italian but also kind of like an alien."  He was humorously uninterested in serving people, which fit Gia's description. Thankfully the food was great, the wine was cheap, and the rest of the staff was very nice. We shared some wonderful pasta with meat sauce and a veggie pizza...thereby making us 100% successful at eating pizza for every meal. 

Time to hit the hay and get ready for an early trip to Conque Terra in the morning!