Beautiful City of Art

We landed in Florence after dark and found our way to our hostel. The hostel is part of a chain of hostels in major cities. Its called PLUS, and thats just what it was. When choosing the hostel, we were in Venice and we were wanting to meet new people...I guess we're looking to find what we had in Toulouse, which will be impossible. So, we chose the hostel with the most reviews. When we arrived, we saw a huuuge sign with HOSTEL written on it (most hostels are just regular appartments, or appartment buildings, converted). We walked in, and there was a big reception room, and a few people working the desk (also very unusual). We were given our room card (not key), and then told to take the elevator to the 1st (of 5) floor, to room 109. It was a "6 bed ensuite", and there were already 4 people in there (none of whom even said "hi". We then went to explore... on top of the 5 floors of rooms, there was a pool, sauna, bar/disco room, restaurant, and terrace bar, a computer room :O crazyyyy! We realized then and there that bigger is definitely not always better. It was very impersonal and overblown; when we went to the eating room/restaurant, it felt like high school: not knowing where to sit because of the feeling of exclusivity. The only things we need and want from a hostel are: shower, access to a kitchen (which PLUS doesn't have), multi-bed mixed gender dorm room, wifi, and, most important,  other travelers to hangout with and talk!!
Anyway...so, we settled in, and then went out to get dinner and see what was going on in Florence at 18h. We got a 3€ kebab to share, and then found an international shop and bought 4 jars of peanut butter (we've been searching everywhere for PB for a long time)!! We walked through a street lined with vendors, and were blown away by the intensity of the salesmen, but we did make a few purchases after hackling down the prices. Back at the hostel, we made peace with the fact that we didn't have to do something every evening, and got to bed early, after being screamed at by some crazy Italian woman, in Italian, for wiggling the bed. Haha!
Monday morning we left the hostel quite early to explore! We walked all over, admiring the old city, and then made our way to the famous Ponte Vecchio. Excited to get a taste of the renowned art of Florence we went to the Galeria degli Uffizi, only to leave, dissapointed, when we found that it's closed on Mondays :(  We walked on, eyes darting between all the beautiful old churches and statues, until we reached the beautiful and grand Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore (the big cathedral in Florence). Sooooo impressive!!
That evening we met up with Tim (our buddy from the Cinque Terre). We bought dinner ingredients and some quality box wine (1,25€ each), and then went back to Tim's hostel and cooked up some delicious pasta, and tomato sauce and pesto! Mmmmmm! Then we went over to the PLUS hostel and hung out in the bar. There, Tim ran into a friend he had met in Barcelona, so he came and joined us too! We shared stories and laughed, and then at 23h we all went our own directions: Tim and his friend left, Kels went up to go to bed, and I stayed at the bar (...a bad idea...).
This morning, Kels went up to the Piazzale Michaelangelo and saw the incredible view of all of Florence (while I was sick in bed). At 13h, we took a train for 4 hours through the beautiful hills of Tuscany to Roma!
★Iolani