A Tale of Two Leather Jackets

Last Friday was full of adventures. Miriam and I got breakfast at the chocolate festival that will be going on for the next WEEK at the Piazza near our apartment (SO DANGEROUS/DELICIOUS). We got chocolate covered cereal and hot chocolate. Then we walked to meet the AIFS group that was going to Fiesole, a town in the hills surrounding Florence the Etruscans created and was the beginnings of Florence. We took the public bus there and the Italians on the bus must have hated the 40, loud, American girls (and one boy) that piled onto this bus. Fiesole is a beautiful, quaint town and if I went all "Under the Tuscan Sun"/"Eat, Pray, Love", I would totally live here. We took a tour of the Etruscan ruins (where I obviously had to take fun pictures on the hundreds of years old stones because I am 5) and then walked up a very steep hill, but it was ok because the view at the top was totally worth it. You can see literally ALL of Florence and the hills behind it, so stunning, plus the weather was gorgeous so it was so nice to just hang out in the sun and stare at this view for a while. After, we walked up a little bit to a cute little church, that had a goregous little garden maintained by the monks who live there. Finally, we went to lunch, I was starving at this point, however getting to lunch was easier said than done and we really thought we weren't going to make it for a while. We start walking down the main road that winds down the side of the hill Fiesole is located on, and after 25 minutes we are officially worried because we don't see anyone else from AIFS and we've been walking for a while. Also, the idea of having to walk back up the hill we just walked down was nauseating, and I (and the few other girls I was with) refused to do it. Finally, we see our AIFS staff member and a restaurant with beautiful view in front of us--I've never been so happy to see a random restaurant. We sat down at a table and literally pounced on the food--which was beyond fresh and delcious. There was salad, bread, cheese, eggs, lasanga--basically American brunch meets Italian lunch. The food was delcious and the conversation was great. I sat with some girls I hadn't spent as much time with, which was really fun. Best part of the whole meal--cheesecake for dessert. After lunch, we sat outside in the sun and waited for the bus to come. Upon arriving back in Florence, Miriam and I ditched our plans to go grocery shopping and went ot the San Lorenzo market instead--and oh boy, what an adventure it was. Within less than 5 minutes of being at the market Miriam had gorgeous chocolate brown leather boots in her hand (yes, Miriam bought shoes before I did, everyone be shocked). Within 10 minutes I had about 3 scarves, and Miriam had some also. But, the biggest purchases, and story, of the day were our leather jackets. I had originally said I wasn't going to get one, but I went with Miriam into a store where she saw one she liked and that's where we met Ramino the leather jacket guy. Ramino is 24 years old and possibly one of the biggest flirts I've ever met. He was paying us compliments (both appropriate and inappropriate, feel free to ask me for specifics) left and right. He called me Cleopatra. I tried on a jacket, but told him I was waiting for my mom to get to Florence before I bought one (that plan majorly failed), however Miriam started bargaining because she found a goregous jacket. Just to prove the leather was real, Ramino ran a lighter over the sleeve of the jackets while we were wearing them and then rubbed lotion on them to show us to clean them (and then offered to give us a foot massage). Essentially, Miriam offered a price and Ramino said something to the effect of well maybe if you give me a kiss, and, next thing I know Miriam essentially agrees to it. DISCLAIMER: this is extremely uncharacteristic of her and she does not typically kiss strange men. She tries to give him her cheek, but Ramino went in for the kill, it was hysterical and horrifying at the same time, but mostly hysterical (no tongue, don't worry). However, Miriam got her jacket at the price she wanted, so I guess it was worth it, although she's very concerned about herpes. We walk out of the store, back into the market and pass the other location of the store we were just at. This is where we meet Angelo, the other leather jacket guy, who knows Ramino and basically guesses everything he said to us. Next thing I know, Angelo is offering to sell me a gorgeous brown leather jacket for 100 euro and oh wait, you guessed it, I bought it (it was 100 euro, I wasn't passing this up, well actually 105 because I had to use a credit card, but still). At this point Miriam is pissed, because hers was 125, so Angelo says to go back to Ramino and tell him to give her her money back, so we go back. When we get Ramino isn't there, but the store owner is and we tell him the story and he is PISSED. He leaves to yell at Angelo for telling us to go back, and we're like oh shit, we just got him fired. Ramino comes back and is made at me for buying a jacket and I tell him I got this so cheap I had to and he asks about my mom, and I lie and say I spoke to her. Meanwhile, the owner gets back and Miriam is arguing for her money back, but he explains I got my jacket so cheaply because it was the second jacket we were buying, so we give up and leave the market because we're exhausted at this point.
We get back home and change to go to services (which includes our leather jackets) at the Florence Synagogue, which is conveniently located a few streets from our apartment. We get to the shul (so BEAUTIFUL, I loved it, and this was just the outside, although it looks a little mosque-ish) and it looks oddly dark. We find the guard who tells us that there are no services tonight...uhhh WHAT? Weird. So instead, we met up with our friend Sarah, and a delicious dinner at this whole in the wall place and we made friends with our waiter, Mauritzio. But seriously, one of the best meals I've had. After dinner, we went back to our apartment and hung out until bed because we were waking up early to go to Bologna.