Hello all!! (Were you worried about us??) Florence failed to present me with an internet connection so I am writing to you in retrospect, now that we have arrived in Rome. We've had a very busy busy two days since I filled you in on Venice (quickly) and am not sure I can pack it all in here. We've had an unfortunate hotel stay but wonderful experiences in Florence. Our hotel, well....let's just say it's as unfortunate as unforunate can be and I'll leave it at that. The sights however, were as wonderful as they should be. We of course saw the "Duomo" and had an amazing guided tour of the Santa Croce, including the interrior where the tombs of Michaelangelo, Dante, Galileo, Machiaveli and many more can be found. Please, please stop worrying at home if we've had any time to shop. I want to put your mind to ease right now and let you know that we saw a wonderful leather making demonstration and at the end, it was just like those magical rides at Disney that dump right into a souvenir shop!! And boy did we!! Don't worry, we felt at ease in buying each of you a little trinket since we were spending so much on ourselves!
We had our first free day in Florence and we really capitalized by dividing in to two groups. Though rain threatened to rain on our parade, we had much in that the sun came out, welcoming us all to enjoy our free time. Joe, Debbie, Derek, Missy, Tracy, Patrick and I would argue that we had the better free day, but I am biased of course. We went to hang out with our cheeky bike boys, Andy and Keith (and their newest adorable addition "Alesso") up at the "Castello di Pappiano" for a castle/winery/olive oil tour and tasting before suiting up on bikes and helmets (I know...wine before biking, "drinking then driving?") and hitting the 13 mile loop through Tuscany. (Anne...the boys said they were hoping you'd be here today in your awesome bike outfit, socks and sandals. We all missed you very much.) The views were incredible, the company couldn't have been better and the lunch was memorable. The pictures won't do this day justice but I am sure your pals can't wait to share them with you.
The rest of the gange hit the streets, stopping first at the Central Market to see how the real Florentines shop each day for their produce, meats, etc. and then more leather shopping...that's right folks...more shopping. I think they'd like me to just send an open request at this time "SEND MORE MONEY!" At mid-day, a lucky group of 15 headed to the Uffizi to see some amazing Renaissance works of art (My faves...Botticelli's works amassed in one room). And then we all met together at the Accademia to see Michaelangelo's, "David" amongst other noteworthy pieces from this time period. Sandwiched squarely between most of these activities, our group continues to enjoy not one but two or more Gelato's a day, on a quest to sample every possible flavor variety available.
We were thankful to pack up our minds and bags and move onward today. We shared our hotel with possibly the worst behaved group of human beings known to man, followed closely by a group of chaperone's that pretended they were there alone, without any students to care for and a front desk that could have cared less about any of us, the bad or the good. Alas, leave it to St. Francis to cure our angst and get us back on course.....the laptop battery is running low so onward I go to this beautiful story in the next post.
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