Ahh….Firenze

Brad’s parents were saints and kept the kids for 3 days while Brad and I took a quick trip to Florence, Italy. I don’t know if you’ve ever had a near perfect day in life, but while we were there I think I experienced one. That is such a charming city and for the art lover in me it was quite satisfying. We had perfect weather, had advanced tickets to see the Birth of Venus (my all time favorite painting) at the Uffizi and unexpectedly got in at the last minute without wait or having to pay to see the magnificent David. Wherever we go in Europe we take a Rick Steves travel book with us. He sure knows his stuff and we always follow his advice on restaurants. He led us to a place that had excellent gelato.

I never feel more in America than when I travel to a major tourist city. There are few Americans here in our city, so when I go on vacation I enjoy the moments of hearing American English amongst the tourists. One man turned to me in line and asked a question in American English. It warmed my heart so and I just wanted to hug him. If he only knew that he had made my trip that much better. A double treat for us was seeing an older American gentleman with a cowboy hat on. Ah, I just loved it. The Italians were delightful and I loved seeing all of the dark hair and their friendliness. I couldn’t stop staring when I saw 4 Italian guys together where we were eating one day. I noticed very quickly that they all had the same suede loafers on, but were in different colors….bright red, green, blue, and purple. What a friendship they must have had to go out all wearing the same shoes. Or, maybe one of them bought the shoes for the others and they felt obligated? Italy was wonderful and unforgettable. Ciao!