Post by Jenny

View from the window of the flat

In front of the Santa Croce Basilica

Checking out the gelato at Vivoli (this is for you, Karen)

Favorite view of Poppy's from Ponte Alle Grazie

The green hill

We love trippa (tripe)

Wynn and Poppy at the Beer Gardens

We can't keep Poppy out of "Arnold Vuitton's"

Our first full day in Florence was great! ( We "hit the sack" early last night and were ready to go this morning). Beth had signed us up for a walking tour of Florence and it was great. (We left Beth in bed, sick, though).  While we were touring, Wynn located a doctor that was open on Sunday.  Beth went to the doctor, while Wynn met us at the end of tour near the Duomo (so we wouldn't get lost!).  We met Beth at a little restaurant near their flat for a late lunch. This afternoon we went to a festival (all sorts of artists and local handmade goods) which Beth and I enjoyed. Wynn and Wyly enjoyed the beer gardens at the festival. On the way back to the flat, we stopped at a market (groc. store) and Beth fixed a delicious meal tonight. (She is feeling better - so glad!) We are about to pack an overnight bag----tomorrow we are renting a car and going to Tuscany (Montalcino) for the night. So glad to be here- and especially to see Beth and Wynn!  

- jg

Welcome, Mom and Dad

After 23 hours of travel, Mom and Dad made it to Florence about 2:30 yesterday. I had been looking out of the window for about an hour when they finally pulled up.  I was so excited to see them. Wynn and I are very happy to have visitors. We walked around the 'hood and had gelato.  They were a little worn out, so we got kebaps and ate at the apartment and slept.  Dad likes kebaps about as much as Wynn.  I heard him talking to the kebap man out of the window today, so I guess he made a friend also.

-bn

Feeling The Blues

One of the few things that we have missed since being here is good live music. A lot of our weekends back in the states are filled with live music either in Atlanta, Nashville, New Orleans, etc. One of the first few nights we were here we read about about a place that had good live music, so we went to check it out. The first and only song we heard was Karma Chameleon, which had us pretty disappointed (sorry Mickey - we know you love the 80's). Anyway, we had read about a local jazz club that had blues every Tuesday night and decided to give the live music scene another run. We both love the blues and frequent Blind Willie's back in Atlanta, so why not, right? I was totally not expecting anything like the blues that you might see in Atlanta, Mississippi, Louisiana, or anywhere else in the delta, but man was I surprised. I had no idea what these Italians were going to think the blues were, but to my surprise, the first song that we heard walking through the door was A Change is Gonna Come (one of my favorite songs). Things were starting to look a little better than the Karma Chameleon experience described earlier. The venue was a small, quaint place that wasn't very crowded as we sat down right up front. After watching the first few songs, we noticed that it is sort of an open-mic setting as several different people came on stage to play together that we could tell didn't even know each other. Although, they didn't know each other every song sounded as if these guys have jammed together for years. Directly after Sam Cooke was two songs by Stevie Ray Vaughan (how much better does it get). We were both more and more amazed with every song until finally we were absolutely blown away by a big ole woman who walked on stage, grabbed the mic, and belted out Got My Mojo Working. Needless to say, the Jazz Club was a success and well worth the 5 euro year long membership that we had to purchase. I can't wait to take Big Wyly there since he loves the blues more than anyone I know. I am pretty confident that he will be as impressed as I was.


- WN

language barrier

Wynn trying to figure out the instructions for "Mr. Muscolo", aka Drano.

-bn

slowing down

Coming from the American land of convenience, it is a lesson in patience going to the grocery store here. A much needed one. There are no express checkouts, no self-checkouts, no get you in get you out attitude. Since Wynn and I have plenty of time, we have come to accept that we may wait in line 15 mins to check out. I can imagine, though, that it would be a much more difficult change of pace if we were truly in a hurry. Maybe we can take a little of this "no rush" attitude back...

-bn

Festivus Miracle

Saturday, we went to this festival that Beth had read about. The festival was pretty cool and it will be in town for the next week, so we might have to go back. They had all sorts of handmade crafts and clothing. Some of the people were making the crafts on the spot, like the guy above who was making things out of glass.

Not too far into the festival I discovered what they call the land of beer. I was extremely happy to stumble upon this because I have not been able to find the types of beer that I love (IPA's & Pale Ales) anywhere in Italy. Luckily I found out that there are stores here that sell craft beers.

Not far from the land of beer, we stumbled upon Beth's weakness, the land of chocolate. There was booth after booth of different kinds of chocolate desserts. Just look at the chocolate pieces in the shape of tools above.

- WN

Supersize Me

We went to a local pizzeria last night and when I ordered a beer the waitress said small or large. Of course, I opted for the large (I ain't no punk, right). Well, a large is what I got. Beth got the small. Look at the size of the large next to her small. Wow, guess I really need to learn how much a liter is, huh? The waitress just laughed as she set it down, but I got the last laugh.

- WN

On the Road Again

Yesterday, we decided to take another day trip. This time over to Assisi. Assisi came highly recommended to us by one the best up -and-coming news anchors, Susan Elizabeth Littlefield. Well, she recommended the pizza at least, which drew me in. As soon as we arrived, we went searching for pizza, but took a wrong turn and ended up at the Basilica San Francesca, which was pretty amazing. We took the tour and saw the tomb of Saint Francis.... pretty remarkable.

Afterwards, we made our way to one of the local pizza joints for a wonderful pizza pie.... thank you Suze for the recommendation.

After eating one of the best pizzas we have ever eaten, we decided to walk around and work the pizza off. Suze had told us that visiting Assisi was like stepping back in time and she was exactly right. The town was so quaint and cozy. Every street had a an amazing view and we just kept taking turn after turn trying to get lost in this amazing little town.

Eventually, we ended up taking a turn that brought us out at an old fort at the very top of the city. I must admit that it was pretty cool. The fort was enormous and the architecture was marvelous. I must had stared for 10 minutes trying to figure out how it was constructed so long ago. I was in awe of the fort.

Oh, I almost forgot, on the way to the fort, we passed a couple of tower cranes. I was very intrigued by the tower cranes so we walked a little closer to get a better view. After we got closer I realized that there is no station for the crane operator like I am used to on tower cranes in the states. I am still trying to figure out how they operate them over here. As a side note, I have seen quite a few tower cranes since we have been here. However, I have not seen the first one in operation. All I can think about is how much one cost per month and how they just let them sit here. The superintendents that I have worked with in the past would surely have a heart attack here with the lack of production.

Okay, back to the awesome town of Assisi. Beth and I were both amazed with the quaintness of this town. It seemed like every window in the village was filled with beautiful flowers. Although we have only been to few towns outside of Florence so far, I think that we both agree this is our favorite. We both dreamed about having a small little bungalow in this town one day.

- WN

sunny day

Well, since it was finally sunny in Florence, Wynn and I started our day with gelato (actually, after our workout...Wynn completed his 60th day of Insanity). And it was good.

We tried to go to a couple of museums but one was closed and the other wasn't participating in culture week (wasn't free), so we didn't go. Instead we walked and walked. Excellent views from Piazza Michelangelo. And it was good.

The coffee was good.

Dinner was good.

This was not good. For the second week in a row, Mariano did not come to collect the "linens" as he said he would. For the second week in a row, we stripped the bed and put the towels on the floor where Mariano told us to, only to have to remake the bed and hang the towels. Mariano does not speak English all that well, so maybe he got the days of the week confused or maybe he is just on "Italian time". Either way, I hope he comes next Tuesday on time...I don't think Wynn will be so nice on week 3.

-bn.