Fabulous Firenze!

Ciao to all of you bloggers out there!

This blog is dedicated to Tracy P. (our new Florence friend) and Carolyn Phillips (our Italian expert!).

Our start in Florence was a little rough. We got to the city around 6:30 p.m. (18:30 in military time..Jennifer has it on her watch). We found our hotel pretty easily, but it left something to be desired. So last night night, these southern girls decided that we were too old to be afraid to go to the bathroom for fear of germs. So we hustled down to our friendly, air-conditioned internet cafe, and found our new hotel....yes, the RITZ...just kidding...but no really, Hotel Ritz!

At 8:00 a.m., Karen and Jennifer packed their bags and proceeded to the checkout counter. Fabrizio asked why we were checking out so early. He asked, "Was something wrong with your room?" (Well, for all of you who know how much we love confrontation..we had practiced this one.) Karen, with all of her might, said, "Well, yes, actually, the bathroms were disgusting!" (Lenn, that was for you.) Fabrizio tried his hardest to convince us to stay, but little did he know that the RITZ was calling our name. Jennifer was not "Home Depot" mad, but Karen was and she earned the 25 Euro discount. (Lenn, you also would have been proud of this moment!)

After checkout, we wheeled our bags over the ancient stones of Florence to the Ritz. We didn't even want to take a shower in the other hotel...yes, as you can imagine, we were looking good! Karen had more sweat rings underneath her backpack...those of you who are fashion-conscious would have been ashamed.

After we found the Ritz, though, our new journey into Firenze began! We shoved our bags in the new, safe, clean luggage room and took off! Jennifer has now taken over as tour director so she led us past the Uffizi Museum. The line was so long (4 hours according to tour books) that we headed to the San Croce church. We didn't go in..but that is on our agenda tomorrow. We found Cafe Mario in which we had a prochiutto and mozzarella sandwich and a foccacia and basil and tomato sandwich. Of course, cola-light washed it all down. (Cheri, I am definitely in the mood for a 12 pack of TABS right now!)

After our "light lunch," Jennifer held up the Cola-Light bottle as my beacon to follow her as the designated tour director. We have seen many of our international friends doing this as well, but they usually have 50 people in their tour group, and they hold up butterflies attached to antennas. (Diane, we need to borrow one of your flip-flop fly swatters for our next trip.) I followed diligently across the Ponte Vecchio where we saw many crown jewels...gold and silver. Then my fearless director, hereafter known as Madelina, led me to the Pitti Palace. It was filled with many pieces of beautiful art and beautiful chandeliers. Madelina (JH) gave me many art lessons about red pencil and gray wash.

Since we were in the artistic mood, we stolled down and met Marizzia, a Florentine artist. After making a few purchases, it was again time for gelato. After gelato, we took the hike up to Piazza Michelangelo. This gave the tour a wonderful view of all of Florence. For all of you "Return to Me" (the movie) fans out there, we think this is where Minnie Driver was painting in the movie. (Don't worry, it is on our video...volumn 3 of Karen and Jennifer go to Europa.)

Then we got to come home to the Ritz and take wonderful, hot showers! Yes, it was 5:00 in the afternoon with no shower...the beauty of vacationing with your best stinky friends.

Tonight, though was fabulous! We met Tracy P., a friend of Emily (our 5th grade cohort at BWF) who works for a university program here in Florence. She took us to a great restaurant for pizza and pasta. We also met some of her friends, Jay and Christine, who were visiting from the states. After dinner, guess what was next...yes, more gelato! As we ate, we strolled down the Piazza Republica and got to see more of the Duomo and bell tower.

The real treat happened when we went back to Jay and Christine's hotel rooftop terrace bar. There, we had a marvelous view of the Duomo with a full moon in the background. As we walked into the bar, Emilio (in his white tuxedo jacket), greeted us an offered us a glass of sparkling wine. We sipped our wine over great conversation with our new Florence friends. Thess moments were complete with Doris Day singing "Que Sera" and Dean Martin singing "Return to Me" and "That's Amore." (Adrian, our brains must have been thinking the same thing. Didn't he sing both or one of those?) Just when we thought the night couldn't get any better, a shooting star quickly passed in the dark night. It was magical!

As we speak, Madelina, the new cruise director, is planning a fun day for tomorrow, our last day in Firenze. Then we will end our trip in Orvieto and Roma!

Ciao,
Madelina and Susanna (our new names for today only...)

P.S. Tracy P,, we need some good Italian names as we name ourselves along the way. Thanks so much for making our Florence night a memorable one!

Tracy C., sorry about all of the tense, voice changes in the writing. I'm just too tired. (KJ)