Florence!

Got up this morning after a lovely nights sleep - its a little noisy here with our street view, the Italians are not a quirt bunch. We've noticed that they don't have indoor voices... even indoors.

We got up and got ready, and we wanted to be downstairs before 10 to check out the breakfast that comes with the room... we're in a cheesy hotel in the middle of Florence and we get more service already than we did at our "resort" - we don't even have to pay for toilet paper, and we get this awesome free breakfast. They want you to sit and they bring - you can get up to get cereal, but they he comes around to pour your milk for you. And its a weird milk - I guess more like whole milk, something we don't drink often. But they had soft pastries and coffee cakes, cereal, fruit, yogurt, jams and little toasts - but the best was the cappuchino. I was just going to have coffee, but our hostess said that they were known for the cappuchino and I should try. Ok, arm twisted, and YUM! Can't wait to have one tmw!

You can see the serving area in this picture, she even has her own little dishwasher...

The hotess was very animated - she studied in the states and her English was excellent. She had quite a routine, some other guests had asked if it was better to buy items from the street markets (they are numerous), or to buy from a shop - she said its the same stuff, buy what you like. If you like something and it is something you would pay, then buy it. Don't go from one store to the next looking at the same thing to see if you can save one ore two Euro, you will spend your whole vacation doing that. You see it, you like it, buy it. We thought that was great advice. She talked about how she's a vegetarian now, but on occasion she missed a burger from America, and there is ONE place in Florence that has them, and they take reservations for dinner, so she goes for lunch and breaks her "fast" (as she called it - her meat fast). She was funny, and like a one woman breakfast show. I could have sat and listened to her for longer, but we wanted to get going.

We didn't have a plan today - and its so great to be with people who are ok with no plan... we had a general sense that we wanted to see the Duomo and we wanted to see David, but other than that we just wandered the streets and followed things that looked interesting. We have much more fun just roaming the streets aimlessly than going to a museum (even though EVERYONE has told us not to miss the Uffizi Museum... we didn't go).

We hit the streets and about a block down we saw a few street vendors and decided to check things out. On the way we saw a great little leather bag/purse store, and Amy and Patti both bought bags - VERY cute (same style but different colors), and I'm going back tomorrow for a soft leather one that I like very much.

We continued on to the market, and when we got there we realized that it stretched on for blocks in 3 directions - great stuff! We did more shopping in these few blocks than we had done all trip! We got T-shirts, bags, magnets, a pinocchio puppet (I like to get little trinkets like that to remind me of a place)... we bought so much stuff that we decided to do a U-turn back to the hotel and drop everything off before starting again.

It's still very rainy here - but it will rain very hard for about 10-30 minutes, and then the sun will shine brightly like it never happened. When it starts to rain again you'll feel a few drops as a warning, and then the skies will open up and you'd better find cover because your umbrella will not be enough... and then the sun will be back again. It's not like a Missouri rainy day where it's just wet and grey and gloomy all day long whether its raining or not. So the pictures are strange, you'll see this one in the market with a lot of umbrellas and rain.... and then the next pic on the camera will be bright and sunny...

Just wandering the streets we found things that made us laugh. It was a good light-hearted fun day. Patti and Amy found their Italian boyfriend and we got him to stop for a bit to pose for us.





And I just got the giggles when I saw this sign for Frey Willie... (Free Willie, anyone?). We think that we're just slap happy, but we laughed a lot at that one.




Oh, and just like at home, they have the Everything is 1 Euro Store - we actually found some things in there.

And a few blocks down we found their competition, the "Everything is 99 cents Shop"

We were trying to follow the domes - and I was actually looking for the Medici Palace (still haven't found it) - but we ran into the Duomo. This building is incredibly ornate, and doesn't even look real. Standing there in the Piazza we would swear that it was like a painted set for a movie or something. The Dome is the largest dome in the world, and in order to solve the architectural issues with such a large unsupported structure, they followed nature and made it more of an egg shape than round. We were going to go in, but it was Sunday (for one), and they were actually holding mass inside, so we didn't want to go in. But also the tourist entrance was closed and was due to open at 12... it was now about 12:20, and no sign of anyone opening it. In Italy they're a little slow all over, I guess.

While were were in this piazza we had several street vendors approach us. There is one guy trying to sell prints of painting, and he has like a folding (portable) mazine rack (like a V shape one that you might use in your home, not commercially) - and he asks you about them, and you walk on, so he picks up the whole rack and moves it in front of you again, and asks again... he does this for three or four times, until Amy just gets in his face and says NO. A simple "no thankyou" doesn't work. Another woman had scarves to sell, and we were trying to continue our conversation, and then she gets out this vest (should be "vest") that is made of beads. Now, it's not like solid bead, like something that would cover you, its in a vest shape, but the lines of the beads are about an inch apart... and the lady says to Amy, "good for you" - Amy busted out laughing.. I thought that she should get it. What do I know?

Patti found a Swatch store there, and was strongly considering getting a watch - they have the swatches like when we were kids, but they also have some really interesting designs,.

We headed out toward David and we found an interesting Piazza along the way (Republica) - they have a nice carousel and a big arch (not like our Arch). While we were there the rain came, and we got separated. I finally made the venture across the plaza to a tented book store where they had taken shelter. We checked out some books, some that I want to read more when I get back, about the Medici history, the Duomo... etc. Dana was fascinated with the deco plastic chairs (like a throw back to Brady Bunch styles) - I'll get a picture from her and post it later.

This "Yes We Can" was available on a book bag from the bookstore under the tent... Um.... hmmmm.... Like Edith Ann, that's all I got to say about that. But we decided that we couldn't buy it and take it back with us...

We just kept getting further from David, we walked to another piazza that was really an enclosed courtyard - Piazza Strozzi (this picture is actually taken from inside the interior courtyard). They had some neat shops in there, one was almost like a Channel 9 store, like a Discovery store with unique items and books. This one is titled "Il Grande Bum-Bum" (aaaah, the classics).

From there we followed the road down to the Triniti bridge - over looking Umber buildings and and yellow river...

We walked along the riverside to an interesting bridge that we saw from where we were - the Ponte Vecchio Bridge - it was lined with jewelry shops ON the bridge. Walked down a a little further and we ran into the Uffizi Museum. The courtyard is lined with statues of famous Italian authors, artists, scientists and philosophers (Galileo, DaVinci, Donatello, etc) - we check out the LOOOOOONG line to the Museum and decide we're fine with the Museum of life.. at the end of the courtyard it opens out in the piazza with David! There are many statues in this courtyard - Hercules, Perseus and Medussa,

the Rape of the Sabine Women... and we're getting a little hungry so we have lunch with all of this in view (kind of, there was scaffolding up for a big celebration on June 24th)...

Lunch was good - and I'm not going to post the pics here (but I did take them) - Patti and Amy went with light salads, Dana had the spaghetti ragu, and I had the spaghetti carbonara. All very tasty. There is a little more variety of food here, we even saw a sushi place - but we're sticking with the local specialties - even if we joked today, about being tired of Italian..... I don't know, I had Italian for dinner last night (and lunch and the night before that, and the lunch before that).... not sure if I'm up for Italian again...

After lunch we wandering around a little more and we went into a few shops looking for a little parmesan cheese dipenser that was on our table at lunch. When I asked if we could purchase it, they told us that we could find one at Coin (pronounced Co-Ene), or another place in the Piazza Republica. We went to both - neither had the same design that we wanted, and one was 35 Euro, which we coughed at, but didn't realize it was such a bargain until we got to the other store and saw the SAME one for 65 Euro. When we came out of the store it was in downpour mode again - but I still wanted to find the Medici Palace... I followed the dome, and we found the Medici Chapel, and I didn't realize it wasn't the same thing until we got back to the apt and could look at the map again. Oh well - try again tomorrow.

The girls were cold and wet (it is chilly here, and that's ME saying that, so you know that they're really cold) - so Patti and Amy got all "cozy" and took naps. We all checked in with email and uploaded the blog finally....

We turned on the TV because Italy was playing again in the World cup and they had just tied it 1-1 (to the sound of air horns and cheering from the streets). At break we were SHOCKED to see a sign language interpreter on the screen, apparantly giving a briefing of all the national news. You don't even see the hearing person speaking, you just hear their voice - and the interpreter had the entire screen!

It was very cool to watch her and we videotaped a bit of it (it went on for about 5 minutes!) - but we could understand her more than the Italian, some signs where the same, like rain and thunder - snow was like F handshapes drifting from the sky - people coming together, discussing, respect - loved it! It really shows that Italy is very open to Deaf people (although we haven't seen any).

After our siesta we went down to dinner at the "Fish Restaurant" across the street at about 9pm - we're on Monopoli time, although the restaurants here always open for tourist time I think. Amy and I shared this amazing "fresh crab" rissoto - and then each of us had a different version of the sea bass (hers grilled, mine with wine sauce and potatoes and tomatoes - one of the best things I've had so far on this trip!).... Dana wasn't hungry so she just had a plate of fries (not pictured), and Patti had the spaghetti.

We are definitely in silly moods - I suspect it will just get worse. :) I'll keep better notes of our silliness from now on - just for scientific purposes. We check out of here tmw at 11 (after our lovely breakfast, but we can keep our bags there) and then we have a 2:30 train to Venice that will get us there by 4:30.