Day two in Florence

Day two in Florence

We all had tickets to get into the Academia (where the David is located). We decided to leave at 10:30 and do a little sightseeing along the way. Susie had a little stuffy nose but decided to go.

Oh, the hoards of people! So many tour groups. We walked and walked and saw many interesting sites along the way. We went to the Cathedral At the Piazza del Duomo, we also saw Giotto’s bell Tower and Loggia Del Bigallo. The Loggia is a late gothic building. They are all magnificent buildings. Many, many shopping areas to go back to.

Finally arrive at the Academia, we only waited a few minutes to get in. Susie was not feeling well by this time so she walked around for awhile and then sat in the room where the David of Michelangelo statute was. What an amazing statute. It is so much bigger than you think. You really need to see this in person. It is magnificent. Of course there is no picture taking. We then finished viewing the rest of the museum and walked back outside.

Susie wasn’t feeling well at all by this time. She decided she really needed to go back to the apartment. We found a taxi for her, and told her to call when she got there.

Patti, Shunji, Bob and I decided to have lunch at a little café. We heard from Susie as we where finishing lunch and she was going to have a riposare (Italian afternoon rest). Now that we knew she was settled in, we continued exploring. It was a great day and we had a wonderful time.

Next we went to the Piazza Santa Croce, there is a beautiful Basilica there. There was also the school of leather where they make beautiful leather goods. It really isn’t marked how to get there, but Bob had been there before and remembered how to get to the entrance. They had some beautiful leather goods, but the prices were quite high. You could watch some of the students making things. It was quite interesting. We then did more shopping down the many streets. It was getting to be late afternoon. Shunji and Bob decided to take a taxi back to the apartment, Patti and I decided we were going to walk back. We wanted to go over the Ponte Vecchio Bridge. I had heard there was great shopping. Oh, the hoards of people keep coming. The bridge was lined with beautiful shops and we of course did some shopping along the way. Patti and I finally made it back to the apartment.

Patti

Jean

Susie was feeling better by this time after four hours of sleep. I showed her something I had bought for my sister and she wanted to go back to that one shop and get something for her sister. So we rushed back. We made it just before the shop was closing.

Earlier in the day we decided we were all going to eat together in the apartment. Susie had brought a gift to Shunji of that pecci pasta and a bottle of wine from Montepulciano. Lisa (Susie’s cousin) had told us about a place where we could buy some baked chicken and some other take out things. While Shunji was at the apartment cooking we went and bought our take out baked chicken and of course we had to buy tiramisu for dessert.

When we returned, the table was set and we were ready for an evening of good food, good drink and being with great friends in Florence.

Susie and I were going to leave for Rome on the 8:30 train. Remember, we were going to meet back up with Alfredo and Maura at the rail station in Rome and continue our exciting journey to Nerito with our private translator and tour escort. We have been treated like royalty by my family. They have been nothing but wonderful. Why did we decide to make it so early?

Up early, lugging down Grande Bertha down along with the rest of our luggage. In Italy it only take 10 minutes to get a taxi. I called half hour before we were ready to leave and they said to call back 10 before we want the taxi. That was kind of scary, because we needed to be to the station on time. While we were waiting Shunji brought us down some coffee. What a great friend!

P.S. Susie wants to open a bed and breakfast with Shunji.



Stay tune for the trip to Nerito…….