D and E

Hi all, Yes, we are home now. Having Italy withdraws for sure. Our trip and flight home was good. No delays and people at the airports were nice. One British Air rep was especially helpful. David and I did not have seats together on the return. After boarding the plane and asking someone people to move, we were separated by 10 rows. The British air agent from the counter boarded the plane and found me. He was able to move us to the other side of the plane, together! At first I did not think too much about sitting with strangers for 9 hours. But thankfully, I did not have to do it. It would have been lonely. The day was full of standing in LINES. Sometime, I will have to calculate the number of lines ... read more

Enjoy these pictures from around town.... read more

Cosimos de Medici and Elenora de Toledo were the ruling leaders of Italy in the 1500's. Today, we walked across the Arno river and visited the Pitti Palace, with the Boboli Garden. I was more interested in the Garden and we checked that out first. The landscape architect was fantastic. The slow growing Cypress and Sycamore trees of Tuscany were huge. In the garden, there were signs everywhere telling you not to drink the water. Honestly, I was not even tempted. This palace and its rooms were so beautiful. The Medici family had 11 children and this house was definitely big enough. There was a "Costume Exhibit" in part of the palace. It consisted of women's fashions of the day. Under a very dim light, they had the actual burial clothing of Cosimos and Elenora. It ... read more

In the Piazza di Signora, there is the Museo di Palazzo Vecchio, which was the residence of the Medici family starting in 1500's. The place is wonderfully preserved to its condition in the 1500's. We are very glad that we visited it. It was well worth the 12 euro entrance fee. The frescoes, walls, floors, windows and paintings were fantastic. We took quite a few pictures, but they do not do it justice. To see it personally, was amazing. ... read more

Before leaving home, I researched a place for us to go to church while in Florence. I found this English speaking church, that met across town. After some gelato on Sunday night, we headed over there. It ended up being a lot of fun. The church is attended by many English speaking students, that are studying university here. The music was very contemporary and informal. About 10 people got up to say a few words. They even had us introduce ourselves. It was a great experience, I am so glad that we did it. http://www.fgfint.blogspot.com/ ... read more