I arranged my tickets through an absolutely wonderful site, Weekend in Florence, that let me pick my times/days and download vouchers so that I didn't have to stand in line for tickets. One museum I planned to visit is called the Alinari National Museum of Photography, but when I got there last Sunday I found it was closed for renovation (my credit card has already been refunded).
So I had a free day, and what better way to spend it than shopping? I bought:
Some wonderful items that I won't go into detail about since they're Christmas presents.
A tiny, beautiful etching of a street with Brunelleschi's Duomo in the background (above) from an artist set up near the bridge. It cost the equivalent of $7 and I'm convinced he could get at least three times that much here.
Two posters reproducing famous artwork from one of the vendors who spread their wares out on the sidewalk near the Church of Santa Maria Novella. With the huge volume of foot traffic there, that seems risky, but maybe they're hoping people will step on them and have to buy.
And that afternoon, I set out to get a closeup view of a church on the south side of the Arno. Lo and behold, I stumbled onto a flea market with the typical mix of people trying to clear out their homes and artists selling their wares.
I found some old photos and postcards (don't I always?), a pair of earrings, a Murano glass paperweight (I paid a fraction of what it's worth), a heavily illustrated book on the art of Florence (and I can mostly figure out the Italian text), and a small metal cat sculpture/ring holder.
I realized later I never did find that church I was looking for.
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