2004
Thursday, July 15 - Firenze
Lodging: Il Palagio B&B (phone = +39 055 5520642; email address = info@il-palagio.it; Internet = www.il-palagio.it) ; plan to stay until July 17th

At about 12:30am, we left the Gusto restaurant and said goodbye to the couples from Ireland and Norway. We traded email addresses and were invited to Ireland anytime.

We took showers, got ready for bed, read and eventually went to sleep. Erica was wired from her naps and stayed up pretty late reading. We planned to get up and head out no later than 7am.

The alarm clock went off at 6:30am and I hit the 9-minute snooze. Erica got up and headed for the bathroom. At about 12 minutes til, I finally got up. We made it out at about 7:10am headed to check out the walking tours (see http://www.artviva.com).

It was kinda neat to see Firenze before 8am. Except for some people driving (mopeds and the like) to work, the place was empty and closed. At 8am, things changed suddenly. The walking tours did not open until 8am, so we found a quick cappuccino and donut. I also found a banana. Once the walking tours place opened, we decided on the Taste of Tuscany walking tour. This starts at 11:15am today. We had to spend a minimum of 150 euros to use a credit card, so we also booked the Leaning Tower of Pisa tour for tomorrow at 12:15pm! Total price for the both of us for both tours is 220 euros (roughly $284 US dollars). The Pisa tour includes the train ride to Pisa and a light lunch (sandwiches).

We then headed back to the Il Palagio for our included breakfast and to obtain reservations to the Ufizzi museum. We scheduled the Ufizzi museum for 8:30am tomorrow.

At 10:30am, we left for our 11:15am Tuscany tour. The tour took Taxis to the Tuscany area and spent some time at a great villa. We took some great pictures of Firenze and the surrounding countryside and took a tour of the villa. We also had an excellent patio luncheon with many different local cuisine, including olives, cheeses, ham, salami, pasta, wines (not me) and water. The olives were outstanding! We then hiked down along the countryside and then to a local town to take a bus back to Firenze.

We were dropped off at the Duomo and walked back to the Il Palagio B&B. It is now 3:45pm and nap time.

Entry by Erica:
We decided we had time for dinner after our nap, before heading to a historic theatre for a movie in English. We went to dinner near the Duomo at some place advertising great American breakfasts. Too bad we were there for dinner - tee hee... Gregg wanted lasagna and Erica thought the lasagna sounded good too. Gregg went to the mens room and Erica ordered. The waiter in broken English confirmed Ericas thoughts that their version of lasagna was Florentine, meaning cream and spinach, not the tomato and meat sauce Gregg is accustomed. So... to be safe Erica ordered one order of lasagna and a pizze vegetariana. Gregg was glad of it - he was not in the mood for white sauce and spinach. We ordered dessert after a wonderful meal and then got the bill so we could make it to the 10:45 p.m. showing of Stepford Wives. Man! What a bill! 5.83 euros for water! 44 euros total... geez...

We walked into the theatre just as the movie was starting - what timing! The movie was hilarious - nothing like the original. They even gave us an intermission about 45 minutes into the movie. All the Americans were looking around in bewilderment. What do you do with an Intermission during a movie? Anyway...when the movie ended we stuck around and Gregg got some great shots of the theatre. It was beautiful with an amazing glass dome, detailed columns and intricate lighting. Very cool...

Gabe called Greggs cell phone as we were headed out of the movie. As Gregg reached in his pocket to shut it up ($1 per minute), he accidentally hit the answer button. Doh! After 2 seconds, he hung up... but there went that dollar!