Feet don’t Fail ME now!!!!! Was the murmur from Illy’s lips as we climbed the long, steep trek to the top of Piazzalle Michelangelo, near the end of one HELLUVA walking day... but, I get ahead of the day.
Morning found us wondering what happened to the blow dryer... Oooppps Chuck forgot to reverse the adapter and blew the circuit breaker and nearly burned down the hotel.... Not really, just blew the breaker... but it did get the front desk clerk a little nervous...
So... off to see Dave... THE DAVID, that is... and if you never see anything in Europe, ya gotta do
that one. AWESOME!!!This Michelangelo kid was pretty good!!!
The rest of the art at the Academia was impressive but Dave took the prize, and our breath.
Off to Mercato San Lorenzo for the great leather and silk search. Not much
to speak of but Chuckie did finally get his Leather Italian Fisherman’s hat to replace the one lost in a Hertz rental [yes exactly!] on a recent trip to the west coast, but still no Leather Jacket for the Cuban Lady.Lunch at a little pizzeria “Antica de Arte" near San Lorenzo. ["Mezzo Mezzo"
food, Fair service, OK price] Cute German tourists flirting with the Cute waiter, who was flirting with the Cute German Tourists, good for a chuckle so they rated a photo.A quick side trip to Santa Maria Novella, marvelous frescoes and dome art... and of course the ubiquitous Medicci chapel... [those damn Medicci’s are everywhere].
Across the lovely Piazza Santa Maria Novela, [past your hotel Rene’, the Grand Minerva... Classy digs!] and a race to Get photos of Ponte Vecchio with the sun at the right spot..Then it was a race to Ufizzi Gallery only to find the lines too long to wait.
Soooo….. A quick run through the ground floor of Palazzo Vecchio and out the back door on the way to Zona Santa Croce for the Great Leather Search. Some good stuff, some not so good, but we finally found a factory outlet for a small company, the right stuff and the right sales person.
And… TA DAAA!!!!
THE CUBAN LADY HAS HER ITALIAN LEATHER COAT!!!!
But…not before the long… long… uphill… trek to the Piazzalle Michelangelo [P.M. for future notes] and a run [seriously A real gallop] back to catch the little leather shop before it closed. [have you noticed we seem to RUN everywhere?]
Now of course, we are on the other side of town and guess who thinks she is coming down with a cold????….
Off to the Farmacia for Throat lozenges which the instructions of course are in Italian. Sooo… she misreads the box and takes one like a pill !!!. Only after the run back from P.M. [ain’t spelling it again] does she decide it wasn’t working. Soooo… After I correctly translate the directions does she get it right this time and puts one under her tongue.
To Cab or to walk... Awww Tahellwidit.. We walk....
Then she remembers this cute little shop that had these cute cafecito cups named [get this] “Illy Collection” and of course it’s 7.15 and the shops closes at 7.30....
Soooo… we fly to the store only to find out that ya gotta buy the whole damn set! Now the cup may be cute but $80.00 for a set of cafecito cups we’ll never use just doesn’t cut it... Besides, there will probably be lots of other chotchkie’s that I won’t be able to avoid shipping home [ya really don’t think I’m gonna try and pack this stuff do ya?]
Are you outta breath yet??? We are!!!!
Before the time runs out, forgotten notes from yesterdays trip to Pisa and thereabouts.
On the trek back to the bus Illy spots this really dilapidated house, and says...”My, isn’t that an old building?” to which my only reply could be, “Honey... they’re ALL old buildings!” [After 2060 years they do tend to age a bit] So now Illy has decided that she has found her first Italian “Fixer Upper”. “ Well”, she said, “it DOES have good bones”. We laughed sooo hard...only Illy. [but I guess it’s one of those, “Ya Hadda Been There moments"] What Next??? With her… Ya Never Know!!!
The clock is running out and guess who’s hungry again???
I suppose I’ll have to feed her before she leaves me behind.
Time to get lost again trying to find dinner.
Boy this is fun… Feet don’t fail me now!!!
Ciao 4 Now,
Chuck and the ever-hungry Cuban Lady
