Christmas in June

We are blessed with a 9/80 work schedule which means we work 9 hour days and get every other Friday off. What did we do on our first off Friday...MOVE!! It might seem like moving is one of my favorite things to do since we do it a lot, this was my twelfth move in 7 years but I hate it just as much as everyone else. The move was rather painless, in a last minute panic I hired two guys to help and three small hours we were in our new apartment.
This was the second time in two years that our life was in storage so unpacking is kind of like Christmas. I got my electric toothbrush back, found my stash of chapstick and had a whole new wardrobe including a huge box of shoes! At first it was very exciting but when it comes to picking what to wear I find that it was much easier when I only had two options, holy tank top one or holy tank top two.
We have about half of everything unpacked and don't plan on unpacking the rest. Our friend Greg thinks that we'll be completely unpacked in 6 months and he's probably right. As of now I just unpacked minimal things: 4 plates, a set of bowls, a few cups and wine glasses but as I cook and bake more I think I'll be looking for things that are still packed. The dining room will be our storage area until we sort out our lives.
We were action packed the rest of the weekend. Attended a birthday party for a friends kid, went to a beach bonfire to watch the summer fireworks, went to dinner with Andrew and Alicia, and went food shopping!!! YEAH for no more eating out!!!

Pics: not in order as usual
- The 70s called and asked if we want to visit ... we said YES! Dark paneling, no dishwasher and a fire place all ours for the next 6 months
- the great thing about your friends having kids is that you get to play with them. Siena is the daughter of our San Diego besties Greg and Marisa
- Andrew and Alicia ready for a night out. Our dinners together are numbered, he got stationed on the east coast :(
- Happiness is finding your bag of Chapstick!!!
- Where else in the world can you watch fireworks while having a bonfire on the beach and be wearing pants in June!
- Locating all the pieces of my electric toothbrush is like riding a unicorn through a chocolate filled lake
- Michael might look like he's taking a break but he was actually doing sit ups

What happens when you return

We read numerous travel blogs before we left and most people posted some sort of self reflection after their trip and/or a cost summary but what no one talked about is what happened in their lives when they returned. Did they sleep on moms couch for weeks while looking for a job, did they have a home to return to, a job? So since today is our first day back at work I figured I'd tell you how it worked for us. We arrived in California last week picked up our car that was parked at a friends place and then headed over to another friend who was gracious enough to let us stay with her for a few days. Our whole life is in a 10x10 storage unit and luckily we had a small bag of clothes and toiletries in the trunk of the car that we needed right before we left. I already felt one up from when I returned from deployment since we didn't have a car then and I came back a month before Michael and I didn't want to look for apartments without him which meant I was homeless for a while.
Got settled at our friends and feverishly went about looking for a place to live. We needed a month to month or 6 month lease available now since we still had no idea where we were moving. There are plenty on the market but they are small complexes without a full time office staff which means generally we call a number who tells us if it's available then they said they will call an on site manager who will call us. From what we observed this on site person is just someone who lives in the complex and has authority to show places but it's not their job so it's not a priority, which means its days before they return your calls. After three days of searching we finally see a bunch of places and then the applications process starts. As a renter the process is painful but as an owner I'm glad they are thorough. Pays stubs (that was tricky for us), bank statements, debt and references. I don't know how people who live paycheck to paycheck ever get approved. Our current hold up is a reference. In the last three years we've only paid rent at a complex for 6 months, the rest of the time we were out of the country or living in our condo. The other issue is that every place requires a credit check and a fee so we don't want to apply to a bunch of places.
In the meantime we have to return to work which started today. It's like everything that's been on hold for months is coming at us at once. We are full speed ahead at two jobs (military and civilian), looking for a place to live, planning a move. So on this fine Monday, 6 days after returning to San Diego we are staying at a hotel, hoping to get an apartment and move this weekend, we have just enough work enough appropriate clothes to make it through the week. It's like we're still traveling as we eat take out or pre-made meals and I had to sit on the floor to make our lunches this morning. I can't wait for the day that I can put in earrings, wear perfume, use my electric toothbrush and cook my own dinner.

Texas

As we landed in Houston I think we both had the same thought: what the heck are we doing here? We lived in Houston, we hated Houston and we promptly left Houston never to return again...or so we thought. We met Megan and Jonathan when they lived in San Diego and instantly hit it off so when they told us that they were from TX and loved everything TX we figured we could make an exception for them, kind of like the small space we save for those dear friends who also happen to be Red Sox fans. Like most people our age Megan and Jonathan have grown up, gotten jobs, bought a house and made the ultimate sacrifice: had a baby. We figured this would be a good time to stop in and see them.
You know those rare friends you have where you don't see them for long periods of time but when your together its like you never left, that's how it was. 3 days of wine, excellent meals cooked by supermom and laughs by everyone including their adorable little boy. Michael got to play the manny with
Graham who at 7 months was a lot of fun to play with. Jonathan was gracious enough to answer the 500 million questions we have about corporate America and how they made it work when they both went back to school. Megan fed us all sorts of gourmet meals most of which I can't pronounce but it was delicious. Her meals generally change our lives and she gets a kick out of our frozen soy burger life style. We are so glad we made it a stop on our world tour.

Pics:
- The manny at work
- playing family at whole foods while Megan shopped. It worked people thought he was ours, I'm sure Michaels ability to rock the diaper bag helped. But after this outing I could barely move my arms.
- table set for royalty, Megan pulled out all the stops for our arrival

Somehow we came back with a million pictures of Graham and none of Megan and Jonathan, how did that happen?

Home?

6/5/12:

Well after 25,000 miles and around 4 months ... We're back in San Diego. I can't say home since we don't have one at the moment. That adventure starts tomorrow :(

Once we get settled we'll post some stats and thoughts.

304

6/5/12:

We're in Phoenix about to fly to San Diego and that means 304 miles left on our adventure.

Very sad :(

Welcome back to America!

6/2/12:

We had some serious plans for a 'coming home' blog post but clearly this plans didn't materialize. So I'll just summarize a few tid-bits until we can scrape together a better story.

The flight from Rome was a little low class for our tastes. As this blog no doubt has shown, we're used to certain luxuries in our gypsy life. Things like leg room, hot towels, in-seat TV with atleast 1000 options, cheese plates, etc etc. This particular flight would not have made Robin Leach happy. BTW if you don't know who that is I'm pretty sure it means you were born after 1990. The plane was old and a bit rickety. It even had ash trays .... EWWWWWWW! The in-seat tv (although better than nothing) only had 6 channels which played the same movie in a loop. Basically it wasn't 1st class. Oh well.

Got to DC and had some initial culture shocks. After 4 months gone the 2 biggest American culture shocks were:

1) Americans as a whole are significantly larger than people from SE Asia and Italy.
2) Americans as a whole are significantly more polite than people from SE Asia and Italy (yes even NY'ers!).

I'll save our thoughts on that for another post but I think the size issue stems from the portion size offered.

Anyway, we had our first Frosty (super yummy!) and Starbucks, had a small heart attack over the price of 2 drinks at starbucks ($9.50 ... Seriously!) and got to use our cell phones for more than an alarm clock.

Flew to NY, had a fabulous welcome from the family and after almost 24 hours of travel (woke up in Rome around 7AM, in bed the following day at about 6AM Rome time).

The next few days were a blur of visiting some of our very best friends, family in NJ, Friendly's, pizza and 7-11 coffee :) Saw the Avengers (amazing!), Yankees games (on tv) and drove around here and there.

We spent a day in NYC with our favorite diva Amanda!!!!! Even convinced her to walk around the city with us and hang out at Fleet Week :).

Can't believe we've already been back a week! Heading to Houston today to see some wonderful friends and then back to San Diego on Tuesday where we have to face real life. *****sigh****

Pics:

1) Carolyn opened the window on the plane and my inner vampire got angry.
2) us in DC.
3) us on the subway in NYC.
4) Carolyn having a scrumptious meal at shake shack in NYC.
5) Carolyn and Amanda getting comfy on a Marine Corps helicopter.
6) us leaving Rome :(
7) Me, Carolyn, Matt and Aysen.

Last day in paradise

5/24

Is it really our last day in Italy? Michael has a serious case of depression but I'm trying to just think about what lies ahead. We still have about two weeks of vacation left before we return to San Diego.
We couldn't get in the Borghese Gallery when we were here earlier so we made a reservation for today. It had some beautiful art and I do think I appreciated it more after our month in art classes ie a million museums. What I don't understand is why this art is so important that you need a reservation and you can only be there two hours and of that you can only look at the cool stuff (paintings) for 30 minutes. Due to the time constraints we gave in and paid for the audio guide. The museum was a private home so it's set on a lovely park which we toured on our way out. From there we picked up some quick items to take home with us and did a bag swap at the hotel because we had to check everything we owned at the museum so we didn't bring much.
The rest of the day we just enjoyed the city. We ate lunch late so we only ended up getting gelato once! Blasphemy I know! We went to the Spanish steps, took some pictures and people watched for a while, strolled along the streets, stopped at a few small churches along the way ending in Piazza Navona which has a four rivers fountain. Going to these places makes it even more depressing that we lost the camera because we had some great pictures from our first time. Took the bus back to the hotel so could pack which I'm happy to say went much easier then we thought.
Our home lives aren't nearly this exciting but we still have some vacationing to do while we're on the east coast so we'll continue to write. We'll be in NY a little over a week and the Yankees aren't playing at home once but it's Fleet Week!

Rome Part II

5/23/12:

Our trip is quickly coming to an end and I think clinical depression is setting in. It's not that I don't want to come home ... Well actually thats exactly what it is. I miss family and friends and some foods and of course my own language and culture. But we've grown accustomed to another way of life. Public transportation that just works, a population who doesn't feel the need to keep up with the Jones and the lack of rude, fat, annoying Americans.

Anyway, up this AM in our swanky hotel in Orvieto (Palazzo Piccolomini) then grabbed a bus from the top of the mountain down to the train station. Hard to describe Orvieto without a picture so I won't really try. Check out this site (http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/destinations/italy/01orvieto.htm) and just picture a sweet medieval town, towers and all, perched up on a giant rocky plateau (think AYERS ROCK). At the train station we met a couple who had been pickpocketed in Rome at the termini train station. Holy awful batman!

Arrived Rome about 11 AM, checked in to our hotel (Piemonte Hotel) and then decide to grab some souvenirs. Made our way to the Vatican where we saw about a million people milling about and standing in lines. The line to get in to the basilica must have been 3 hours long. I guess the tourist season is rolling full steam ahead! We found the post office, bought a couple things, perused 'religious souvenir row' which was lined with about 100 shops selling anything and everything plastered with images of Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict (16th???). Found a store selling a yummy candy called bacio (one of my favorite gelato favors!) so we snagged a couple for a quick treat :)

A little after 3 we went to the Capuchin Crypts (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capuchin_Crypt). This place was super cool but super creepy as well. Apparently some monks had to move to a smaller place and wanted to bring all their pals with them. So they dug everyone up (must be hundreds of people) and then used all the bones to decorate the underground crypt. The bones are arranged in cool patterns like flowers and swirls and crosses. A couple hour glasses and some other unusual designs as well. I think visiting on Oct 31st would be a great Halloween treat!

Went over to the Trastevere neighborhood and wandered around a bit. We had an audio walking tour from Rick Steves that helped guide us around. The neighborhood was really nice and heaps of charm. Looked in a couple ancient churches and then found a grand place to eat. We bought a bottle of wine a few day ago and decided we should drink it tonight in our room which meant no wine at dinner. Carolyn had some pesto gnocchi and I had a Gorgonzola penne dish. Extra yummy! We met an older Dutch couple who if you can believe it, had just biked to Rome all the way from holland! Took them 2 weeks. Chatted with them and then made our way home.

At the train stop we saw 2 guys who looked a bit lost. We offered some help and found out one of them was trying I get to the airport. After explaining all the stops he would need the guy asked us how long we'd been in rome. When we said 2 days he replied: 'and you already know how to navigate the metro system!' we explained that we already spent a week here so that's our secret sauce. Felt good to help another traveller in need. Incidentally the guy was from Afghanistan but lives in Germany. Crazy world.

Our previous plan was discarded when we decided gelato was more important than wine. So we had our second serving, then walked over to the Trevi Fountain. Took some pics, admired the fountain and then headed home. We took a bus and almost had front row seats to a ghetto UFC match. An older Italian couple sitting in the last row woke up abruptly and realized they'd lost something. I don't know for sure cause they didn't speak English but their mannerisms told the tale. Anyway the guy must have accidentally (I assume) pulled the hair of the lady in front of him. The husband of this lady begins to puff his chest out and tells us he's going to 'smack 'im!' They're American of course. So this guy stands up and you can just feel the tension building. The old guy has no clue what's going on (he's more concerned with whatever it is he lost). The situation doesn't look good and I'm a heartbeat away from moving Carolyn out of the area. The guys wife tries to get off the bus but the husband says no. He states his intent on smacking the older guy. Luckily the situation doesn't escalate but when the bus gets to the last stop he gets in the old dudes face and says (in Anglo-ized italian): 'Please suck my _________' feel free to insert whatever you like in the blank. I heard him say it but after we all got off the bus he runs up to his wife (who smartly ran away from the scene) and screams what he just told the older guy. So as if it weren't bad enough the first time he said it on the bus, he had to let everyone else know as well. What a turd. Seriously there's just no reason to let anger get the best of you. He's the reason Americans have a bad rap.

Anyway, tomorrow we're hitting up the Borghese Gallery (http://www.galleriaborghese.it/borghese/en/edefault.htm) for some amazing art!!!! Can't believe it's already our last day.

Pics:
1) Trastevere Piazza.
2) Trevi Fountain at night.
3) Mrs Blue in the Pantheon.
4) St Peters Basilica.
5) Carolyn in St Peters Square.
6) Pantheon at night.
7) St Cecelia statue inside the church of St Cecelia.
8) View of Orvieto from below. The large hill / mountain in back is the town.
9) Us at the Trevi Fountain.

For love of food

5/24/12:

Just want to throw this tidbit out to all our American peeps:

We've been in Italy for a month now, eating some of the best food on the planet. We've been to 16 different cities, countless eateries and supermarkets. Not once. Let me emphasize that again ... Not. One. Time. In Italy we have yet to see the 2nd most disgusting thing on the planet. Onions. The best food on the planet = no onions.

Just something to think about from me to you.

So this is what getting up for work feels like

0630 alarm goes off
0716 board bus
0745 arrive train station
0807 board train
0921 arrive Chiusa
1059 depart for Orvieto
1124 arrive Orvieto
1135 take funicular to town
1140 take bus to city center
1200 arrive hotel!

Sometime during the morning trip we realize that this is what getting up for work feels like only we have to get up earlier, works starts at 0715. For me it was worth the early morning. Orvieto is a quaint hill town with a gorgeous few. We toured their stunning Cathedral which held a cloth with blood stains that they claim came from a loaf of bread used for communion (RELIC!!!). The original case for the cloth looked like something from a fairy tale. One of the chapels had brilliant frescoes of the Apocalypse and our guide book had a play by play of it which made it much more enjoyable. We also visited a well. Not just any well, St. Patrick's Well which is a 16th century double helix pattern, 175 foot deep well. It was built in fear that the town would be besieged and had no water source. The double stairs work great for tourists but it was built that way so that there was plenty of room for the donkeys to go up and down. I wish some of the towers we've climbed had the same thing because there were times climbing up a tower in Florence that we were holding on for dear life as people came down.
It's a bit of a shock to us but we are leaving on Friday. I feel like it really crept up and I only realized how close it was when I got an email from a friend about plans we made for Saturday. Surely she can't mean this Saturday? Michaels been without a haircut since Vietnam and said he would not be attending any functions looking like a shaggy Sasquatch. Meanwhile I'm thinking that we'll barely have time to do laundry and we're just about out of clean clothes. Somehow I don't think our friends will care but luckily this is a small town so we found a barber and for 9€ Michael got an Italian haircut from a man who didn't speak a lick of English.

Pics:
- one of the items on Michael finer things list is living/staying somewhere with a spiral staircase. We put a bid on a condo with one once but lost to someone paying cash! Anyway this hotel had suites with spiral staircases in them, I wish I had know because I would have booked it! This is one that goes to the staffs room.
- a first for the Blues, we order a whole bottle of wine, we're so grown up!
- On the way down St. Patrick's well
- Look Marisa no chocolate! I think it's because I'm sick but I was craving strawberry so for the first time since arriving in Italy I had a gelato that wasn't a chocolate flavor
- From one of the many viewpoints, so many shades of green

Birds do not like me

5/21/12:

I'll just pick up where Carolyn left off last night:

After racing for the train (and making it), we relaxed on said train for about 1.25 hours. Now we'd done a little Pre planning and knew we would have to take the #10 bus from the train station to our hotel. Google maps told us it would leave at 10'ish. Walking out of the train we were greeted by some serious rain. And some serious cold. I was honestly upset in SE Asia that we were going to miss cold weather but Italy seems to have fixed that gripe. So we see a bus stop outside the station but the next (and of course last) stop is at like 9:45. Through hand signals and grunts we figure out that that particular bus isn't going the right way. So we consult our treasure map and guidebook and discover we have to cross the field of swirly twirly gum drops, through the 7 hills of candy corn and then go through the Lincoln tunnel. Seriously we had to cross a concrete field in the pouring rain, find a secret door with a secret elevator in order to get to the correct bus stop. We successfully completed that task and made it into the right bus. Our next challenge was figuring out where to get off. I had a map saved on my phone but it super dark out and raining. Luckily we get off at the right place an then walk the 400 meters to our hotel.

Checked in and went to sleep for about 10 hours. We needed it fo sho!

Since we saw most of the highlights in Siena yesterday, today was more of a wander around and get some souvenirs day. We did head over to San Domenico Church and see St Catherine's head and FINGER!!!!! Creepy but really cool. Her mummified finger was literally 4 inches from our faces!

We stopped in a cafe for a coffee from a guy with a certificate saying he was a certified amazing espresso maker. It was good but not the best. Had some of the best pizza we've had, got a couple shirts and a Christmas ornament.

Ended the day with a drink at a place called Bar Key Largo. They have an awesome balcony overlooking the campo (huge piazza in Siena). Carolyn had some serious hot chocolate and I had 2 glasses of wine. During my first glass I got a little note from a bird saying they don't like me. Translation: I got crapped on!!!! Luckily it was only my pants. I washed them off and then tried to enjoy my wine. 10 minutes later another feathered jerk crapped in my wine. Yukky. I'm not about to let a bird scare me off so I went and got another glass ... We moved to another seat and I kept my hand on top of my glass :).

Oh, earlier we stopped at the train station and discovered that trains don't go to Orvieto very regularly. So we had to buy a ticket departing at 0804. Which means catching a 0715 bus. Which means waking up at 0630. Which means we're already grumpy.

Anyway, had dinner at a sweet little place next to our hotel and if you can believe the horror, did not have our second gelato! Instead we had profiteroles!!!!!!! Friggin yum!

We did some recon action on the bus situation and eventually decided on a 0716 bus. Also grabbed a couple provisions for our ridiculously early trip tomorrow. Croissants and nutella!!!

So we leave Siena tomorrow for Orvieto. Siena was really nice but not a whole lot going on. The duomo was one of the best we've seen, the campo was so pretty and a great place to hang out ... And as weird as this sounds, seeing the relics of St Caterine was the highlight for me. We've done our best to see a relic in every town. So far we've only failed in a couple cities.

Pics:
1) storm clouds brewing over Siena.
2) Us on the balcony at bar key largo.
3) Carolyn in a mini door.
4) Storm clouds over the Mangia Tower and the Duomo.
5) San Domenico.
6) Storm clouds over the Mangia Tower.
7) typical street in Siena.
8) Me in the Campo.
9) Hot Chocolate and wine (after the bird crap incident) overlooking the campo.

Close calls

Today wasn't one of our finer planning days. We booked a tour thinking when we got back to Florence we could take a train directly to Siena, our next location. The trip we booked was making a stop in Siena but we wanted the tour for the wine tasting which was after Siena. We had the good sense to buy our train tickets ahead and bring our bags with us on the tour. We were supposed to get back around 1930ish and our train was at 2010. Normally if we miss a train it's no big deal, just take the next one but we realized our hotel only allowed check in until 2030, we contacted them and they said check in would be until 2330. That's fine IF we make the 2010 train. We told the tour guide about our train and he tried to wrap things up but we were already behind due to some late people earlier in the trip. At 1940 while sitting in traffic I start trying to figure out our contingency plan, the next train gets in at 2315, maybe we could have the tour guide call the hotel and then take a cab from the train to the hotel, Michael had said there was a bus to Siena but we didn't look up the schedule, what are the chances we can find the ticket booth and get on a bus that gets us there before 2300? We pulled into the train station, run to the train and pull the closing doors open as we hopped on, we made it!!! Thank goodness because it's been a long day.
Michael kept me up ALL night over three so called mosquitos. He claims he was getting bit all night although he can not produce any bites. After a very loud bug repellant application, (seriously only my husband could make a racket applying a lotion!) at 4am I finally got some zzzs before the alarm went off at 7. Up, shower, pack, breakfast, meet bus. We were exhausted. Michael said he felt like it was hell week at military training. My cold is moving around and it's currently in a place I don't like, my throat. It feels like I've swallowed razor blades.
To add to our glorious moods, it was cold and rainy today. First stop was San Gimignano where we promptly got hot drinks, took in the rolling green hills and then found the "The Gelato World Champion". It was a little early but how could we pass up such an opportunity.
Loaded the bus, next stop Siena. Had lunch, got a tour of city and visited The Cathedral which was stunning. They had a room with frescos from the 1400's unrestored and it looked like they were painted yesterday. Apparently the room gets enough light that candles weren't needed so it didn't get wax and soot residue. Then I found a million things to buy at the souvenir shops, our favorite toddler happens to be named Siena. Luckily I have tomorrow to really look. From there it was a quick stop at a Medieval Castle and then off to our favorite part, Chianti wine tasting.
This place was awesome. They make wine, balsamic vinegar, olive oil and a few smaller things. It started as a hobby and finally this guy took a leap and started his own farm. We tried a dessert wine, Chianti classico and what he called a friends wine. It's one that takes time to drink and should be done leisurely in good company. Then we got to taste some absolutely amazing EVOO, truffle olive oil and the grande finale was vanilla ice cream with 30 year old balsamic vinegar. Doesn't sound like it goes together but it was wonderful.
We generally despise large tour groups with their umbrella holding guides, taking up entire doorways, side walks, restaurants but today we were one of them. Up until the wine tour we didn't think the tour was worth the money. We are good enough at navigating a city and seeing sights that we didn't need someone leading the way, plus we like going our own pace.

Pics:
- We didn't see any Tuscan sun but it's still beautiful
- Serious artwork that's 600 years old, makes you wonder why we are soon wrong these day
- ice cream and balsamic vinegar yes please
- trying to stay dry at the vineyard

Earthquakes and other tidbits

5/21/12:

Just saw some news that there was a bombing in Brindisi (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-18128170) and a serious earthquake near Bologna (http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/20/world/europe/italy-earthquake/index.html).

Nothing to worry about, we're just fine. I'm pretty sure we felt the earthquake as we were in Florence which is only an hour'ish south of where it hit.

Tombs, towers and stairs

5/19/12:

Yesterday we had a much needed break. Today we squeezed in a glut and hammy workout along with some tombs and churches.

Our hotel breakfast (hotel Romagna) was pretty good. Cereal (always a win), warm milk (not a win), croisssssssants (delish!), turnip-tasting mystery jelly (gross), yogurt (who wants coffee flavor???? ME!), hot coco for the lady, 17 cups of coffee for me :). I would have had 19 but I kept breaking the machine. I guess it just can't handle an American hunger!

We plotted our daily route, trying to take in opening times, distance, proximity to a bagno and a gelateria. So after some sugar calculus and differential equations of the pee-pee order we set out.

First up, the duomo bell tower (Giotto's tower). There was a line to get in but we expected that being Saturday and all. After paying our €6 each we began the ascent. Stairs, stairs, stairs. The stair corridors were so skinny we barely fit ... It was a nightmare with people trying to go both ways. Seriously for €6 / person the church could either hire a traffic conductor or rig up a simple stop-light system any infant would understand. Besides the rush hour traffic on the stairs, the view were awesome. From the top you could see all over Florence. Grand indeed.

Next we jumped in line for the Duomo itself which only took about 4 minutes to get into. I had read a review of the duomo before coming which said something like 'the architects/painters must have run out of steam inside cause it's just a simple, bare hall'. Well I'm here to say that is a fact. The outside is super beautiful with loads of color and decoration. Inside just seemed like a random rural, poor church, albeit a very large one. It was nice to look around but really nothing special compared to all the others we've seen. Moving on.

We stopped for a couple supplies, did some window shopping and eventually found our next destination: The Basilica of Santa Croce. The piazza out front was bustling with shops and people, including a couple tour groups from a royal Caribbean cruise (long way from the water?). Had our first-elato (1st gelato serving) and then went inside the church.

The church cost €6 per person which I thought was a bit steep but it has some cool sights and a bagno so not a bad deal I guess. The tombs of Galileo, Machiavelli, Michaelangelo and a host of others are all in this one place! Along with some choice artwork, a nice cloister and a small museum the church houses tombs of well known Florentines. The inside floor looked more like a cemetery than a house of worship. Besides the big name tombs, the floor has hundreds of tomb markers. Saw some old crosses and art work, meandered around and then sat down to wait out a quick bout of rain.

From here we tried to find a suitable place to eat but came up empty everywhere we went. For a non-pig eater, your options in tourist Italy are pretty limited. We've had about 734 slices of pizza over the last few weeks so we wanted something a bit different. After striking out we did the unthinkable ... We ate at McDonalds. We never eat McDonalds, even jn the US. The McDonalds in Italy are probably the largest and most elegant ones I've ever seen in my life! They are ginormous, sprawling complexes with hundreds of people eating and hanging out. Oh and loads of youngsters smoking right in the doorways to make sure everyone gets their side of cancer causing agents along with their fat-macs and fries. I hate to say it but after 4 months, the fries were delectable!

Had some wine in our room afterwards before going out for dinner. We wanted a quick, small bite to eat so we could grab second-elato (gelato serving #2). The quick part didn't happen. We ordered simple cheese pizzas and then waited over an hour! Anyway, after pizza we had some Rick-Steves recommended gelato from Bermuda-triangle gelato. Not the best gelato by far. In fact, Rick Steves' guide book said Florence is Italy's gelato Capitol as in it has the best gelato. This is false. Florence had some of the worst gelato we've had. After 2 servings of gelato per day, everyday, we're something of a gelato expert. The best gelato in Italy has been hands down in Bologna.

Tomorrow we have our first Italian tour! We're taking a tour to a couple hill towns and them some wine tasting!!!

SIDE NOTE: we saw a florentine garbage truck today wrestle with a dumpster for about 10 minutes. The process to extract the garbage from the dumpster was like something out of a clown show. Grappling hooks, cigarettes, cranes and pulleys. This place is in desperate need of an efficiency expert!

Pics:
1) View of Florence from the tower.
2) Happy couple on top of the tower.
3) Carolyn in the cloister of Santa Croce.
4) Carolyn in front of Giotto's tower).
5) inside the tower.
6) Michealangelo's tomb.
7) This is a tomb in the floor of Santa Croce. This is what the whole church looked like.
8) Found this shirt in a store. Anyone ever hear of La Hola, CA????
9) Inside of the Duomo.