Day 7: We love you too Firenze

Dan was saying that he was starting to look like a crazy bird because his hair was getting so long so today's journey started out with the mission to find someplace for Dan to get his hair cut.  Easy you say, right?  Welllllll, we had walked past a lot of salons but who knows who speaks any english or how good they are?  Anyway, we were on a mission.  We stopped into a new little cafe today and had a yummy breakfast with some more good coffee.  While we were there we saw an old man get a big plate of pasta for breakfast and wash it down with wine and a younger couple have Campari spritzers for breakfast....guess we've been doing it wrong this whole time.  Also, Dan noticed out the window that someone had tied a very old Malamute looking dog to a scooter in the street.  He looked blind and he kept moving closer and closer to the exceptionally narrow street that had scooters, cars and busses hurtling down it.  The old guy seemed to know the limit of where he should put his nose though.  After a few minutes and older man comes over to the scooter, puts on his helmet and gets on.  I was thinking that I was going to be chasing this guy down and punching him off of his scooter if he thought he was going to make that poor old dog run next to it.  In the middle of that thought the guy said something to the dog and it proceeded to climb ONTO the scooter at the guys feet!!!  They drove off like that...a happy little couple! 

We walk into the city center and I realize that my dress may never come and so in my head it also becomes a mission to see if there are any replacements that I could get last minute.  We have been walking past a Salvatore Ferragamo store the last few days and there is a gorgeous dress in the window that I love but I'm guessing it probably costs as much as we are spending for the entire wedding.  I am starting to feel the weight of this reality today and it's finally getting to me :(

Anyway, as we are walking around we find an Aveda salon...WooHoo!!!  We go in and wait and Dan gets a haircut and looks very handsome!

I just realized as I was looking through the pictures to piece this day together that I haven't been updating you with my gelato of the day!  Tragic, but I can not remember this far back what I had.  There is a pic from today and I can tell you that it was Chocolate and Blackberry and it was seriously almost as big as my head and that was just a medium.  The irony was that I really wanted the cone but ended up never making it to the cone sadly.  We stood and ate these under an awning while it poured down rain so it was pretty romantic.

After that we headed back over the bridge towards where our apartment is becasue there was a cool clothing store I had my eyes on for a few days.  Dan bought me some pretty things and we picked up a few gifts.  The girl in the store asked us if we were going out to the White Night celebration that night.  We had seen posters around town for this but we didn't realize exactly what it was.  Apparently this is an annual festival that is across Europe and that they are trying to make worldwide and it's promoting peace through the arts.  It's a 12 hour party where they close down the streets from traffic and everyone is supposed to wear white and there are all sorts of cool things happening on pretty much every corner and square.  If you make it to 8am there is free breakfast all over the city.  So we decided that we would definitely get out and see it.  After a little leftover Gusto pizza, we get dressed up in as much white as we had and hit the streets.

 Good picture of us all dressed up, huh?

This had to be the absolutely coolest event/party I've ever experienced!  We started out on our little street in the art district and it had a very cozy, family feel to it.  There were white baloons and lights in every store and all up and down the streets.  We saw a flash mob and a restaurant brought out the biggest pan of mussels that has probably ever been made.  There were dj's and drinks in a bunch of shops and we came across a Led Zepplin cover band outside a church.  They were really good!  At the Pitti Palace, the WWF was projecting a gigantic movie of animals and nature up on the front of the palace and they lined the front "yard" with white runners so people could sit and have drinks and food and watch.

When we crossed the bridge to go into the city center you wouldn't believe the crowds!  Masses and masses of people out partying.  In the piazza behind the Uffizi was a woman playing a grand piano and opera singers, in another piazza was an oldies band, near the Duomo was a choir, in a bar was a jazz/blues band, on a seedy street was a guy dancing in a pig mask with another guy playing guitar and singing.  Our favorite thing we tripped upon was a tall church where there was a dj playing music from the third floor window.  There were lights strobing along the front of the church and it was a big dance party crowd out front.  At some point they were throwing money out of the window.  We grabbed some beers and joined in!  I loved the mix of an old historic church with techno music blaring out of it.

Needless to say, we didn't make it to free breakfast since we were packing up and leaving for Montalcino the next morning but man did we have a BLAST!  Thanks for the farewell party Firenze, we are truly in love with you.
All day 7 pics here http://flic.kr/s/aHsjzDeL1b

Tomorrow...the a-hole GPS.