Florence

We are getting spoiled with the computer at the hotel, though I usually have to wait for the other two American couples to finish using it (one couple from Seattle, the other from Texas...former English teachers). I suspect we may have a little more trouble with Internet access in Lucca and Manorola, the small towns we are going to next (we leave for Lucca on Thursday late morning).

Today was another beautiful day: high in the low 70s, lows in the low 60s. We had breakfast at the Mercado Centrale, then went to the Science Museum next to the Uffizi: Mike was in his glory explaining the physics behind the telescopes of Newton (I STILL cannot find the apostrophe key!!). Then we hiked up to Piazale Michelangelo--THAT was gorgeous. We have tons of pics from that view, and the Japanese Garden there was beautiful. We may return to picnic there tomorrow (we can't --FOUND THE APOSTROPHE!--picnic in the Boboli Gardens it seems).

Then we toured the Uffizi: loved Venus on the Half Shell (funny name we heard for Botticelli's work). Very crowded with tour groups, alas, so not exactly a leisurely experience.

Dinner tonight was panini in a local bar playing 1980s American music (that the night bartender switched to jazz).

I won't promise you all pictures yet....it seems it's more challenging than we thought. By the time we get back to the hotel we are usually ready to crash and read the New Yorkers I bought over.

One of the local bookstores had a section of books in English including one shelf they titled " The Next President"--the shelf included books by Obama and Clinton (not McCain) but the sign was directly under Clinton's book. However the few Italians who brought the topic up with us seemed to be pro-Obama.

Ciao for now,

Stacey