[ Apr.2013 ] On the way back from our family holiday in south Italy, we flew from Bari to Pisa and spent one night in Florence mainly to satisfy my family’s desire for shopping.
What we wanted was not Gucci or Feragamo which we could buy anywhere in the world, but our target was the exciting leather market.
I have not been to Florence for 5 years and I thoughtt I should do a bit of exciting shopping as well.
But one thing I noticed this time was that in the leather market there are no Italians.
The vendors are Romanians, Iranians, and so on and shoppers are of course tourists from abroad, which put me off a bit.
But then I thought if we can get quality things with the feeling of bargain, it does not matter even if the sellers are not Italians.
So in the end, I had quite exciting shopping.
They all were affected by the recession, though.
I remember a shop where we were satisfied with last time, so we looked for it, but it was closed down.
The person in a shop where we bought bags said that in one street, most of the shops had been closed.
And in a street in the centre, I saw a vendor who was desperately taking out his spite on every shopper.
Well, it may be a good thing if the recession does a selection and only real good ones can survive.
