My golden walk across the Ponte Vecchio

We were out on the town early because we had a list of must-do activities which had to be accomplished – including a visit to Palazzo Pitti and to see the David statue at the Galleria d’Accademia – as we only had a day left in Pinocchio’s birth place. I had seen Florence’s Ponte Vecchio, which literally means the ‘old bridge’, from a distance on my previous trip in 2009, but I was eager to actually walk across the bridge which houses goldsmiths and jewellery shops. Crossing the Arno River at its narrowest point, the old stone structure was crowded but car-free and the experience lived up to my expectations, in fact the dripping gold combined with diamonds, pearls, coral and precious sones displayed in windows was mesmerizing. I promised to start playing the national lottery just so that I could afford to return here again and splurge on these big paper-thin gold earrings and an exquisite cuff bracelet. I also found adorable silver ‘leaning tower’ and ‘colosseum’ charms to add to my bracelet 🙂