Cascine Park Market and My "Little Walks"

Today we went over to the Cascine Park to visit the big market held there every Tuesday morning. We always buy something, but even if we don't it is an experience. To me it feels like the "real" Florence. The centre is beautiful but it is not where you see the day to day life of the people who live here. It is a great place for really cheap shoes - when the weather changes for the better consistently I will be buying some 10 euro ballet pumps for certain! If they don't last it doesn't really matter at that price! We bought toys, knickers (!) and a dress-up frock for less than 20 euros, but it felt like we had bought loads. The trip was spiced up by an argument between the people who sell the fake bags - haven't a clue what it was about but all the stall holders found it amusing! As I say, you see the real Florence here! We walked over to the Cascine from where we live. This would normally take about 15 mins but today I decided to go a different way. My son lives in dread of these excursions and constantly expects me end up in Siena! This one wasn't too bad as we found the riverside walk which doesn't start on the Cascine side of the river until much further down. We then crossed the river over the Scandicci foot bridge. This was interesting as the market continues on that side of the river in a small square opposite the bridge! Next time I will investigate but we wanted to see the main market. The last time we went on one of my walks we were out for over 4 hours - we nearly did end up in Pontassieve! We saw alot of Florence and the Eastern end of the Arno though! We also went into the centre afterwards. We had lunch in the Bar Allegro near the Teatro Communale. They do a great chicken, olive and mayo sandwich! Then we walked over to the centre. Finally the new Zara has opened, and as I hoped, it has a Zara kids. I bought my son some shorts and my daughter a pinafore dress. At last somewhere I can buy clothes that a) my son will wear and b) won't cost me an arm and a leg! Maybe H&M will be next? My OH returns from Spain tonight so I must depart and clear up now! At the moment it looks like a toyshop exploded in the house!