Sheraton Firenze Florence

Florence a delight, the architecture like nothing we have seen. We picked up a rental car and headed to Siena. Robyn was the navigator (only twice around a few roundabouts so far) and Chris had a senior moment, stalled in the middle of the road, still working out which side to drive on, wipers going full tat in lieu of indicator and trying to find the button start to get us moving again – hilarious and loads of laughs. Eventually found the way to ...

Good Morning!
Everybody's vote for favorite city has been Siena....overall. Great parking, a fantastic dome, a terrific plaza, and the most spectacular view of Tuscany. From the top of of a dome building, we could see miles and miles.
Lucca was great because we were able to enjoy it in the daylight this time.....with good maps, we were able to get in ...

... B we had booked… it was a restored castle on top of the hills in Tuscany… after much winding roads on what appeared to be a single road to nowhere we found it and it was worth the effort…..we sat on to of the hill looking at olive groves and the hills beyond.. Magnificent…. Dinner was a Florentine steak.. Yes just one steak between 4 of us.. The biggest T-bone in the world… amazingly tender .. View from top of mountain great….

... Lisa (I am a lover of art). And the buildings were pretty awesome as well. I don’t think its possible to get used to drinking wine on the steps of some building so spectacular that it doesn’t even look real. Yeah, I got into wine in Italy. It is cheap and I like it.

On everyone’s last night, we all planned to get some wine and get together to watch the sun set over Florence ...

... too, and it really contributed to the experience. We also toured the Pitti Palace and stumbled upon some famous art we didn't even know was there. Among the cheap wine and free food, we learnt cool facts about this medieval place and the ruling of the Medici family. Also, (we didn't go into any) but Florence most likey has the best shoe shopping in the world. And a shoe museum. Just saying......Italy was off to a sweet start.

Now.. your Rome update!

Jus and Mur

... to be very touristy (the menus had sections totally devoted to English) but it was actually very good. Prices were of course higher but it was worth it just to sit there and people watch. After dinner we walked to Ponte Vecchio and listened to some music.

Saturday, we had to officially move out of our hostel. We woke up extra early to enjoy our last free breakfast. Checkout was hectic for most, but luckily ...

... the most powerful ruling family in Florence and surrounding Italian city-states. We then walked to the Arno, to take a few pictures of the river and caboom, someone (we won't say which of us), lost grip on the camera and it fell down on its lens. We spent some time looking for a store that would service our Canon--no luck. All of the cameras in Florence are more than double what they cost at home, so we decided to use our video ...

... perspective, an idea born of a Renaissance man some 300 years later - Brunelleschi in the 15th century and demonstrated later by Masaccio in his Holy Trinity, a fresco on the inside wall of the Santa Maria Novella. From here, the rooms travel through the centuries and we discovered Botticelli's "Primavera" and "Birth of Venus" of which we purchased a print and had framed beautifully upon our return to the States. Stunningly ...

... town. Nana naps all around then a pizza meal/red wine of course , and also of course gelatos and machiato-- grazie of course. Tomorrow we do a guide tour of Uffizzi gallery then taxis to our first hire car, am I ready for this ummmmmmmm well tell you tomorrow. They seem to drive pretty good to me but its easy to say that when you are sitting in a bus watching the world go by. Well it will be a challenge and I am looking forward to ...

... we had a very short break before heading off to class. Again, boring. We had class without internet until 7:30 in the evening! This is torture. Then, after class, the girls and I went on a short walk, then came back for a spaghetti dinner that we made ourselves. While Amber was making dinner, I was working on dessert. Mmmm, I had some left over ingredients from the last time I made ...