Pbenjay's Blog

Out and about on a warm and sunny Saturday, we head back to the Flea Market to visit the food stalls in the industrial building.  When I walked in, it reminded me very much of a marketplace I went to in Paris, with the olive oil vendors and cheese mongers.  It was definitely a foodie haven.  I roamed the aisles which were full of families shopping, this being a Saturday.  

Wherever you looked, your eyes feasted on mounds of fresh verdura (vegetables), hanging formaggio (cheese) and salsiccia (sausage).  I pointed out a few Italian specialties that I knew Peter would never eat  nor understand why anyone else would eat them;  Whole rabbits were for sale, lots and lots of tripe (stomach intestine), the latter which I can hardly believe I ate for dinner many a night with my father. Now the thought of….let’s not go there.

The cooking school was on the second floor which was also one huge food court.  People everywhere eating plates of pasta and platters of mortadella, prosciutto, cheeses and olives. AND coffee or rather espresso-Italians love their tiny cups (like a shot) of espresso a few times a day.  There’s no sitting down to linger over a cup of coffee and have the waitress refill your cup. Nope, it’s a stand, sip, swig and go, for them.  Practically everyplace in Italy has a bar or is a bar and is not to be confused with an American bar although they often have wine, beer and some liquors too.

But today is a shopping day, I can feel it in my bones.  Late yesterday as we cruised through the marketplace I spied a particular style handbag 👜 and was hoping to buy one today if I could decide on the right color, decisions, decisions!  So out we go into the crowd of shoppers and after much haggling with one dealer we purchase a very nice belt for Peter and with more negotiating for that special price for you lady,  I bought a lovely pale pink handbag that will never fit in my suitcase going home and and impractical to carry on the plane because it doesn’t close up tightly enough.  Then again not sure practicality plays a big role in impulse shopping.

Enough of this stuff, where’s the antique flea market?  We don’t know who to ask, so we start walking down some other streets in our neighborhood when we come across – you won’t believe it! – A head shop.  It was like a candy store literally, colorful  and happy.  We’re on vacation so what the hey?! I pick out 5 lollipops 🍭 and some stuff that looks like brown rock candy.  I think I asked the woman at the counter about the flavor of one of the lollies and that’s when she casually mentioned that there was no CBD in them. “OH?” MMMmmmm.  That’s when she said that marijuana was illegal in Italy!! A store in Florence full of paraphernalia, pipes, hookahs, edibles, papers and more but NOT really selling marijuana.  I put the lollipops back. She did add that those amber colored candies had a trace of the oil of CBD, “for relaxation “, she said.  Tucked those little sweeties in my handbag and before we left we tried to find out if they knew where there might be an antique flea market?  It was suggested we head to St. Ambroseus Square, and once again we asked  kind strangers to call a taxi for us.

Upon arriving at said square all we found was a couple of racks of used clothing 👎.  We walked around and saw a sign in the distance, stopped at at restaurant to ask what it was and joy of joys, the answer was “oh some antiquities”.  I told you, we have a magnetic attraction to such places.  We split up, each going our own way, it was a two aisle flea market and I found two booksellers with 💯 ‘s of books and neither had what I was searching for – Alice nel  paease delle Meraviglie while Peter was probably drawn to the vintage clothing stalls.  We met in the middle, well that’s not quite true I found him trying to decide between a vintage linen sports jacket and a really smart looking striped jacket. I left him betwixt and between, he would have to decide. I meandered into a lovely booth run by an English lady who had emigrated to Italy and was now a citizen.  We talked about socialized medicine; The topic came up when she saw my boot and cane. She had some interesting English flatware with white Bakelite handles.  I thought one knife and one fork would make a nice addition to my Bakelite flatware at home.

And now we had one more stop to make, I’ve been waiting for two days….The Ponte Vecchio, famous for being the only bridge on the Arno not bombed during the war.  “We must go there Peter”.  Lol lol lol.  Happy Birthday to me – I bought a thin, white gold filigree band, a definite Florentine design, to wear with my wedding band.  Quite the dicothomy there – we bought our wedding bands at a street fair in New York for $10 each because we were looking for an art deco design and we immediately loved them. Don’t put it in the box, I’ll just wear it😍.

P.S. Peter got both the jackets, fair is fair after all.

To be continued…

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