Shopping in Florence

It was probably two months ago when I was at brunch with a few girls from work when one of them started talking about a recent trip she made to Florence and the Prada outlet located just outside of Florence.  It was then and there that us girls decided we also needed to do a shopping weekend in Florence, and that weekend turned out to be this last one.  There were five of us girls and we had only one goal for the weekend....shopping!  While of course also enjoying some yummy Italian food and wine.  We arrived Friday evening and stayed in a cute little apartment in the middle of the city.  Saturday morning we were up bright and early to make sure we got to the Prada outlet right when it opened at 9:30.  The Prada outlet is about an hour by train from Florence and then just a short cab ride from the train station.  

There are no signs for Prada along the way....it is merely called Space and is basically a giant warehouse.  But when you step inside, it's not like a warehouse at all. It’s like stepping into a regular Prada store, just larger.  There’s a men’s section, and then sections for handbags, sunglasses, women’s shoes and of course women’s clothes.  We beelined it for the handbag section and then slowly covered everything else.  Everyone was quite successful, perhaps too successful.  I treated myself to a pair of shoes and sunglasses while the other girls were much more successful with the handbags.  All in all, a good start to the day and it was only 11:30.

We headed back to Florence, had a lovely lunch and then shopped the rest of the day in Florence.  There are tons of shops all around town so there is plenty to choose from.  We tried to hit up as much as we could with the different stores and then headed to a local outdoor market to check out some of the leather goods.  Again, we managed to all be quite successful during the afternoon as well.  Oh and to top it all off, the weather was absolutely amazing.  It was in the mid-80’s and sunny.....it felt like a summer day.  

By 6pm we were all pooped and headed back to the apartment to rest for a bit before dinner.  We had another delicious Italian meal before calling it a night.  The next day our flight wasn’t until 7:20pm so we had more time to, you guessed it, shop!  We weren’t quite as aggressive as the previous day but still managed to walk around and shop for a few hours while also enjoying one last dish of pasta.  

All in all, it was a fabulous weekend.  You never know what to expect when you travel with girls you’ve never traveled with before and who all want to shop.  But we all got along fabulously and ended up being great shopping partners for each other.  I got home, showed Nate my purchases and told him about our weekend and he was all too happy to have been at home watching the Giants and enjoying the beautiful weather sitting by the lake.  I guess it was a win-win for both of us.