Our Most Excellent New York Adventure

Each year Meredith and I take a trip right after Christmas to upstate New York (Schenectady to be exact) to visit my sisters, brother, stepmother and their families. This year we expanded our travels to tack on a trip down to New York City so she could visit some of the graduate schools where she has applied and interview some of the researchers she hopes to work with. We were blessed with a lull in the
bitter cold and a respite from the barrage of snowstorms and so enjoyed some worry-free travel.

The upstate portion was our usual stay with Sally, my wicked stepmother (hey, that's what SHE calls herself!) and the obligatory dinner at my sister's house to exchange gifts and pig out on lasagna and spaghetti pie. Unfortunately, my Florida sister and her family couldn't come this year. (We missed you, Bets!) Here are some shots of my wacky family. We definitely put the "fun" in "dysfunctional!




John may have been flashing a peace sign but Lynny and I were definitely putting bunny ears on Sally, who, for her part, was clueless to what was going on behind her.













Sally looks downright disgusted at her grandchildren's behavior and, for the record, Meredith knew she was being "bunny-eared" by her cousin Paul. What a crew!










After two days of that merriment it was time to head downstate to the Big Apple. We are blessed with wonderful friends who put us up very graciously. Chubba has been Brendan's best friend since childhood. He is a senior finance executive for the Metropolitan Museum, a fact that figures in one of our misadventures for the trip. Diana, his wife is a most gracious hostess with a large Italian family, including Meredith's new best buddy, Johnny, who loves the Yankees as much as she does. Johnny and his wife, Linda joined us for dinner that first night. My favorite experience was listening to Meredith trying to explain Molecular Genetics and her graduate programs to the rest of us. All Johnny cared about was that he would have a buddy to go to Yankee games with him for the next few years!






Here is Chubba with his new "baby", a 2-seater hard-top convertible Mercedes. He took us each for a spin and it is quite a machine.










Monday we headed into the city. We took the train in with Chubba and all went to the museum which is closed to the public on Mondays. Chubba showed us his office, we discussed a rendezvous point later and then Meredith and I began our exploration of the vastness of the museum. We explored the ancient Greek and Roman sculptures, which reminded me so much of our trip to Italy last Spring. Then we headed over to the Egyptian artifacts, which includes an amazing number of mummies and a full temple donated by the Egyptian government in the 1960's when the Aswan Dam project flooded a large area adjacent to the Nile. Suddenly a guard approached me and asked for my staff badge. I explained that we were guests of one of the museum's executives and he told us we would have to leave if we were unaccompanied by a staff member. He was initially a little nasty but then softened when he realized that it was an innocent mistake. Chubba hasn't worked there all that long and we were his first guests during closed hours. The guard escorted us upstairs where we told Chubba that we had been busted and would have to leave. He felt terrible and walked us out with some suggestions of other places to go. We just laughed it off. After all, how many people can claim to have been thrown out of the Metropolitan Museum of Art? We didn't even have to try to steal or vandalize anything to accomplish it either!

The rest of Monday we explored the East side, finding the Rockefeller Campus where Meredith's interviews were to be held later that day, and then heading uptown to find Columbia's Medical campus at 168th Street. That's where our second adventure of the day occurred. Apparently the program that Meredith applied to must be a special secret program because no one knew where it was. We got four different sets of directions, followed each one dutifully, only to find out we were NOT in the right place. One person suggested that we go to the Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital Emergency Room because "they have a directory of everybody." That would have involved crossing a major street for the third time so we just popped into a building called the [insert la-di-da name here] Research Center. The building guard there directed us to go back across the street and "right next to the homeless shelter -- just look for all of the people outside smoking"... not what a Mom wanted to hear in THAT neighborhood. One very well meaning woman pointed out a tall building that she described as the library and told Meredith to go up to the second floor. At that point I waited outside, rested my feet sitting on a bench and took a couple of pictures of the area:

























She was gone for a while so I thought maybe we had finally hit paydirt. I thought wrong. She came out eventually, shaking her head and told me that the front desk guard had told her the program was NOT on the second floor but in room 313 on the third floor. He directed her to an elevator in the back of the building and she emerged onto the third floor to find the entire floor to be nothing but empty classrooms. She couldn't gain access to the second floor at all so decided to give up and come back outside. We admitted defeat and took the subway back over to the east side to grab some lunch. We had lunch in a quintessential NY Jewish deli. The owner, a little old Jewish man, even offered to pay for my lunch if I didn't like it. He got to keep his money because it was delicious! It was almost time for Meredith's interviews at Rockefeller so we walked over to York Avenue. The guard recognized us from our reconnaissance trip earlier and called to announce us. She was delightful but made a remark about everyone working there having an attitude that shook Meredith up a bit. The Rockefeller property was exquisite, overlooking the East River. I wanted to take pictures but Meredith gave me the evil eye when I touched my camera so I refrained. Here is a picture of their entrance from the web:



She had two very productive interviews and fell in love with the place. And it was easy to see why. It is clear that this is a serious research place -- lab coats all over the place. To my little lab-rat cookie, this is heaven on earth. Unfortunately, it is also the most competitive grad program on her list so I have all my fingers crossed, have started a few novenas, implored all my dead ancestors to pull any strings they can with the big guy, and wished on every first star I've seen to make this come true for her. It would be HUGE!

Needless to say, we were exhausted after our first day. We met Chubba in Grand Central and took the MetroNorth home for a quiet dinner and an early bedtime. Day Two promised to be just as active, but with a lot more funstuff thrown in.

And we were back at it bright and early on Tuesday. Diana drove us to the train and we went by ourselves. We headed over to NYU's medical campus which is also on the East Side but down in the 30's. Meredith has an interview scheduled with them in February so she just wanted to check out the neighborhood briefly. Not as ritzy as the east 60's but still very nice. Then we treated ourselves to a trip to the top of the Empire State building. I have been there a couple of times but she had never been. When she was much younger we opted to take her to the top of the World Trade Center instead and, of course, now I am so glad we did.

Back in high school she did her senior project on the Chrysler Building and fell in love with the Art Deco building style. Built only a few years after the Chrysler Building, the Empire State Building eclipsed it and became a more famous example of the Art Deco style. It really is a classy gal. This is the entrance lobby:



Is that freakin' magnificent or what?

Being a Tuesday, it was very quiet but we still had to walk through miles of roped-off trails to first pay our $38 for two tickets, secondly go through security (who confiscated my knitting scissors...oops!) and thirdly get our souvenir picture taken so they could shake us down for a ridiculous amount of money when we came down. Finally we took the elevator to the top, yawning to pop our ears as we reached the 86th floor.

It was a little hazy up there, probably due to the warmer than usual weather NY was experiencing. Oh, and a wee bit of smog from all the traffic below. But the views were still spectacular. Here are some of them:






Looking north towards Central Park and Harlem













West to the Hudson River. That looks like a ferry of some kind, maybe from New Jersey?





















South to the Statue of Liberty and the construction rebuilding the area around the World Trade Center site. (No, I still haven't been down there...and I don't know if I ever will be able to face not seeing those two gorgeous buildings again.)







Northeast to the Chrysler Building and the Queensboro Bridge with Queens beyond













I took a couple of pictures of Meredith with her beloved Chrysler Building in the background...





...then we watched people do some incredibly stupid things (like hold their cameras out beyond the barriers without the wriststrap on to take self-portraits), visited the overpriced giftshop full of tacky chachkis, and then took the elevator back down. Worth $38? Probably not but I'm glad we went.

We walked over to Broadway, cruised through Macy's first floor and the Cellar as I reminisced about the way it was 25 years ago when I lived there, and then headed up to Times Square. Now THERE is a change for the better! What was once the porn and peep show capital of the universe has now become a thriving, exuberant symbol of the vitality of New York.







Ok, the corner hustlers are still there but they are dressed a lot better than they were 25 years ago and they don't reek of Mad Dog 20/20 and pee.






















I didn't have the overwhelming urge to run home and take a shower when I got within ten feet of them. The flyers they were trying to stuff in my face were about cellphone deals instead of topless bars. Overall, a tremendous improvement. Good job, Rudy!







From there we headed over to Sixth Avenue and I took Meredith across West 47th Street, better known as "The Diamond District" for its saturation of jewelry shops with individual booths and bustle of jewelers. She was mesmerized by the endless windows of spectacular jewels, gold and silver. All along the street we heard the singsong "We buy gold" -- an invitation to make a deal of a lifetime. Thirty two years ago Brendan and I went there to buy my engagement ring. Fortunately for us, we met a wonderful elderly couple who recognized two babes in the woods and took us under their wing. Sophie and her husband (who never said a word in the years we knew them) were Austrian emigrants who fled from the Nazis in the late 30s with a few gems hidden in their clothes. They built a small business for themselves, primarily due to Sophie's keen eye for character and quality and her husband's jewelery crafting skills. Fate was smiling on us when we found them that November day. They are long dead but never forgotten. That day is a treasured memory among so many together.

Meredith and I then walked up Fifth Avenue to Rockefeller Center at 49th Street. We were lucky enough to find the Christmas tree still standing, although they were already in the process of removing the lights.

































Despite the warmth of the day, there were quite a few skaters.








We walked through "30 Rock" with a quick trip into the NBC studio store and then out to Sixth Avenue where we checked out Radio City Music Hall (just the outside since we didn't have the time or the money for the full tour). We were getting hungry so we hopped on the subway and headed down to one of my favorite parts of the city -- Little Italy.

Exiting on Grand Street we were immediately plunged into the teeming masses of Chinatown. Once I got my bearings I found Mulberry Street and headed for Hester Street and my FAVORITE Little Italy restaurant, The Puglia. If you are going to be in Little Italy, write that name down. It is inexpensive, delicious and fun. Tables are long so seating is family style, a great way to meet people. Lunch is fairly quiet, although that day a busload of middle-schoolers were there on a field trip so it was pretty raucous. A new addition is a wood-fired pizza oven in the back of the restaurant, probably serving only for dinner to maximize its use. Dinner at The Puglia is a Little Italy experience, complete with a live singer who was diners up on their feet singing, dancing and waving napkins. Meredith and I enjoyed some fried mozzarella sticks and parmigiana, chicken for her, eggplant for me. It was WONDERFUL and we left satisfied but not too full to avoid a stop at our other Little Italy mainstay, Ferrara's, the dessert capital of the Western Hemisphere. I'll let the pictures tell THAT story:



























Ok, $11 for two cannolis IS a little steep but we did choose table service, that included the tax and tip and, after all, they were FERRARA'S cannolis. Nuff said.





Now it was time to make our way back uptown to Grand Central, catch the train to Chubba and Diana's and say goodbye to Gotham City for now. Little did we know that there were more adventures in store. Remember Johnny? He works for MetroNorth and his offices are in Grand Central Station. He knows that place like nobody's business. On a previous trip he took us behind the scenes, showing us Donald Trump's indoor tennis court, the Campbell Apartment (formerly the private residence of a NY Executive and now a fashionable cocktail lounge), and the big kahuna, the switch room. He also took us up on the catwalks high above the Grand Concourse where snipers were stationed in those chilling post-9/11 weeks. I took this picture from up there last winter when we visited:




As we got into Grand Central on the subway, we remembered that Johnny had told us he would be off work at around that time. And we saw him just as he was getting off the elevator. He brightened when he saw Meredith and went into tour guide mode all over again. This time he wanted to show us the new Grand Central Market, an amazing array of individually owned booths for commuters to go "grocery shopping" on their way home...provided they don't mind leaving a lot of their daily wages right there. As Johnny told us, "It ain't cheap!" Here is a sampling of what we saw:



















Every kind of sausage imaginable!

























No stinky fish here...so fresh it will slap you silly!


















Prepared food more your style?


















Here's the Beef! Where's your wallet?















Say cheese!










Ok, we were starving by now. So the three of us hopped on the train and set out for home. Along the way Johnny pointed out where the new Yankee Stadium is being built. Meredith was totally mesmerized. He might as well have been showing her heaven on earth. When we got to Croton-Harmon, Johnny gave us one more treat. We got to play engineer! There was a train engine in a repair area and he took us up to the cockpit (I guess that is what it's called) and we posed in the driver's seat.


































Thanks, Johnny! You're the greatest!




What a great trip! We came back to Maine the next day with some great memories and some high hopes for a chance to spend a lot more time in the Big Apple. Meredith now has two interviews scheduled: NYU and Columbia and fingers crossed for Cornell and Rockefeller. She should know within the next couple of weeks and then it's off to the future, a very exciting place for her (and us!)

Moving on to Madrid...

It was time for our visit to Madrid, the final city on our whirlwind tour. We almost didn't get there. Our original ticket request had been for a 7:30AM train from Barcelona departing from Estacio Barcelona Sants, the same train station where we had arrived. That train was not available so we were ticketed for a 9:00AM train, giving us a little more time in the morning. It meant we were traveling the subway during morning rush hour, not our first choice, but we got up early, packed our luggage and started the schlep to the subway around 8AM. We reversed the trip we had made two days earlier, complete with the up-four-steps, walk 50 feet, down-four-steps debacle, only this time with MORE irritated commuters trying to maneuver past us as they hurried to catch their trains. It seemed as if we went up and down 50 bezillion sets of steps with our bags. At the FINAL sets of steps, leading down to the subway platform, a young man took pity on us and insisted on carrying our bags down to the platform. As it turned out, he was an American going to school in Barcelona. Score a big Hooray for the good old USA! We thanked him profusely as he hurried to get on the arriving train. The car was packed solid so we decided to let it go and wait for one we could actually fit into. Three more trains came and went, all crammed full of harried commuters who eyed us warily as the doors opened, willing us to stay put with our oversize burdens. We gladly complied. Finally a train arrived that offered a sliver of space so we grabbed it. We got off at the right stop and struggled up the stairs to the street, ignoring the muttering in our ears as we slowed the flow of traffic. At last we arrived at the station and checked the board for our train. It was now about 8:40AM, just 20 minutes before departure time. Our train was not up there. We found a conductor and showed him our tickets. After a pause which seemed to last an eternity he explained that we were at the wrong train station. I thought my stomach was either going to fall to my knees or come up through my throat. Apparently, when the time of our train was changed, the station was changed also... to Barcelona-Franca, the station that was a five minute walk from our hotel! We could have spared ourselves that subway ordeal if I had only just looked at the tickets more closely. Once that registered a more immediate problem presented itself. Would we be able to get to Madrid from the wrong station? The fate gods must have had a good enough laugh at our expense to cut us a break. As it turned out, the train was leaving Barcelona-Franca and its first stop was Barcelona-Sants, the very station where we standing - sweaty, worried and feeling more than a little foolish. Ok, I was the one feeling foolish since I was the one who had booked all of the reservations. I decided the best thing to do was to give myself a "time out" for a couple of minutes and I headed for the nearest cup of coffee (Americana, gracias) and a monster pastry, assuring Meredith that I would be back in time to catch the train at 9:30AM.

The train arrived right on time and we boarded. Once again we were in separate cars...and once again, probably not a bad thing under the circumstances. She was about ready to place me in a home for the elderly and infirm. I probably would have gone willingly at that point.

The trip was relaxing. I knitted and took some pictures of the passing countryside.

















We left the green terrain of the coast and headed into the more arid center of the country.











Occasionally we would pass a sleepy small town.










The topography flattened out considerably.








After a four hour ride, we pulled into Madrid's Atocha station. We caught up with each other, consulted the map and headed out to the street. Surprise, surprise...it was HOT! One delightful surprise was the beautiful central garden in the station with an amazing pond just FULL of turtles!!!







After a couple of false starts, we finally headed up the right street to our hotel, the Astoria. More correctly, it was a Hostal, which meant that it was a couple of floors in a building with a very small sign at street level. We had some difficulty finding the address and finally asked a newstand vendor. An older woman overheard our question and offered to show us the address. We gratefully followed her. We arrived, checked in and headed for our room. Once again, we lucked out. It was small, but clean and had a nice modern bathroom. It was right on Carerra de San Jeronimo, a busy street, but we were high enough up that it was very quiet. Here are some pictures of the room and the view from our window:


























The location was great, just down the street from the Plaza Puerta del Sol and close to the museums and the major parks.













We dropped off our bags and went to find some lunch. Around the corner we found a little restaurant that looked good. We went in and the waiter immediately seated us in a small side room. The only other table was occupied by a group of six young women who were having some sort of celebration for a birthday or an impending wedding. They were chattering away as one of the them opened her gifts. The room was small but comfortable. We ordered our lunches, some gazpacho and endive salad to start, followed by some veal scallops. We were thoroughly enjoying our lunch until the partiers decided it was time to light up their after lunch smoke. Most of the six lit up, quickly filling the small room with a foul smoke. A few polite coughs on our part were ignored. Spain does not yet have a smoking ban in their restaurants, something most of the rest of Europe has wisely adopted. We were considering having some flan for dessert but were forced to beat a hasty retreat to save our watering eyes and strained lungs. Ironically, we watched as most of the smokers just sat holding their cigarettes, not even smoking them, letting the ash just accumulate on the ends of the smoking cancer sticks. We made the decision to eat most of our remaining meals in Madrid outdoors wherever possible to avoid being trapped in closed spaces with smokers.

After lunch we took a walk along the Paseo de Prado, a long lovely boulevard adjacent to the botanical gardens and a number of the museums. We passed incredible fountains including the fountain of Neptune:



and the monument to Columbus:



















We walked back down the long boulevard and decided to visit one of Madrid's premier art museums, The Museo Centreo de Arte Sofia Reina, the Central Art Museum of Queen Sofia. Chief among its exhibits is the breathtaking Guernica, Picasso's incredible depiction of the Nazi bombing of a Basque town in 1937 which killed so many innocent people, including women and children.



I saw this massive painting about 26 years ago at a travelling exhibition of Picasso's work in New York. It deeply affected me then and this time I was even more moved by the tragedy it depicts, given the pervasive images of war we encounter every day. It was commissioned by Spain's Republican government for the Paris Exposition Universelle the year of the bombing, at the height of Spain's civil war. He completed it in an amazingly short time period, driven by the powerful anti-war images that had disturbed him so deeply.

Also on display are masterpieces of other icons of modern art: Miro, Dali, Arroyo, Ernst, Gris and many, many others. Most of the artists are Spanish but there is a strong representation of surrealistic and modern artists from all over the world. Kandinsky is there, as well as Klein, and Alex Katz. There is also an eye-popping kinetic art display on the ground floor. Even the building structure is a work of art. The external glass elevator provided a great overview of the surrounding area...











...including the Atocha Train Station.







We spent about two hours in the museum and then decided to find a little cafe for a mid-afternoon pick-me-up. We had covered a lot of area, walked about seven miles, and we were fading in the heat. Time for another late afternoon nap to recharge for dinner. We were getting very used to eating at 8PM or later. The late sunsets fiddled with our internal body clocks too. It stayed light until after 10PM because of Madrid's position at the far west of its time zone.

After a couple of hours of refreshing zzz's, we looked for a tapas bar. We found a great little plaza, one of so many in Madrid, with a number of restaurants on the perimeter. As we were walking around checking them out, a young man stopped us and asked us if we spoke English. He went on to tell us that he was an American from Seattle who had been in a bad car accident with his friend who had ended up in the hospital. The rental car was totalled, the police had it impounded, and all of his money and documents, including his passport were in a briefcase in the car and no one knew where it had been taken. He had a nasty cut on his nose and his scalp which he said came from some glass that had embedded itself during the accident. The upshot was that he needed money to get a temporary id from the embassy so he could retrieve money that his parents were wiring him. Was he on the up and up? We didn't know. But there was something compelling about him and we didn't feel comfortable just walking away. He said he needed 20 euros. I couldn't give him that much but between the two of us, Meredith and I were able to give him 5 euros. He seemed very grateful and said that he would be alright. After he walked away we talked about the situation and decided that if it was a scam, he deserved what we gave him just on the merit of his acting job. We found a place that served some great looking tapas, ordered four types and some wine and enjoyed another gorgeous Spanish evening. After enjoying the meal, we poked around the area, had some gelato, found the Plaza Mayor, and decided to make that the start of our adventures the next day. By 11 we were back at the hotel and getting to sleep to prepare for our last day in Spain.

Next post: Plaza Mayor, Walking tour of the Centro, the Market, the Cathedral, hobnobbing at the Presidential Palace and so much more!

I Love Florence in the evening...and the morning...and every other time as well!

Our adventures in Pisa behind us, it was time to enjoy our final evening in Florence. We hadn't explored the Ponte Vecchio area or the sights on the other side of the Arno River so that is where we headed. It was a great excuse to revisit the Uffizi area and the gorgeous outdoor statuary.

We were greeted by Neptune's Fountain in the Piazza della Signoria. As beautiful as this fountain is, it was the subject of derision almost immediately after its unveiling in 1565. It was dubbed "Il Biancone" (the white giant). Florentine housewives used the fountain as a laundry washbasin. It has been vandalized numerous times, including damage done in August 2005, an act that was recorded by security cameras.


There are a number of other statues in the area including the "replacement" David which was placed there when the original was moved in to the Accademia.





















and "Judith and Holofernes" which depicts the biblical story of Judith slaying the tyrant Holofernes while he was drunk and saving her city.










Murder and Rape seem to be very popular subjects for Renaissance painting and sculpture...much like today's movie, tv and tabloid fare. I guess Sex and Violence has ALWAYS been a big seller.







We then walked over to the Loggia dei Lanzi,



built in the late 1300's as a stage for public ceremonies. It was used briefly to house the Duke's mercenary troops from Germany and then later as an observation deck for nobility to watch performances in the piazza. It eventually became a showcase for some of the most important sculptures of the Renaissance.














Perseus slays the Medusa





















Menelaus holding up the body of Petroclus








The Rape of Polyxena, showing Achilles about to stike down her mother, Hecuba, before abducting her. What a bastard!















More Rape... this time it's the Rape of the Sabine Women. Actually in this case, a more accurate title would be "The Abduction of the Sabine Women Who Were Then Given The Option To Wed Their Abductors Or Not." I guess that title wouldn't fit on the pedestal. Legend has it that the early Romans were lacking eligible women so they invited the Sabines to a big party and then kidnapped the women, hoping they would marry them. (Talk about socially awkward!) The women agreed, probably because Romulus, the Roman leader, promised them property in their name and the right to vote. Eventually, the indignant Sabine men attacked the Romans and the women negotiated a truce, since, by now, they had children by their Roman husbands. So the statue, in a strange way, celebrates the power of women when all is said and done.


Walking through the courtyard between the Palazzo Vecchio and the Uffizi Gallery, we came upon this street performer.




We saw this all over Italy and Spain. The idea is that you will be so captivated by their statue-like appearance that you will snap a picture and then they will yell at you to put some euros in the box at their feet. I tried to grab a picture without him noticing me...














BUSTED! He caught me out of the corner of his eye and began the tirade. Meredith and I took off quickly. I figured he couldn't come running after me in that get-up! We got to the end of the corridor and took pictures of the statues of some of the artists and statesmen of Florence's history.










Leonardo Da Vinci

















Michelangelo










Macchiavelli















...and our country's namesake, Amerigo Vespucci. He looks like he is saying, "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of...ME!"




We then walked through this beautiful archway out onto the esplanade that runs along the beautiful Arno River.






It was a GORGEOUS summer evening in such an amazing setting. Definitely time for a photo opportunity!!





















Views across the River






























To our right was the famous Ponte Vecchio so, of course, we had to cross it.















The bridge houses an amazing collection of jewelry shops whose owners live above.










The first bridge was wooden, built by the Romans in 972. It was destroyed by a flood in 1117 and rebuilt in stone. It was again destroyed, this time by fire in 1332 and collapsed in 1333. The current structure was built in 1335 using a series of arches. It is the only bridge in Florence to escape destruction by the Nazis as they retreated in 1944, allegedly at express orders from Hitler. In addition to the shops, there is a corridor that runs along one side of the bridge connecting the Uffizi to the Palazzo Pitti, built in 1565 by Cosimo I De'Medici so he could walk to work. Originally the shops were all butcher shops, a tad pungent in the warm weather, so, when a flood destroyed the shops in the 1500's, the Medici family deeded the rebuilt shops to specific families, expressly requiring them to be jewelry shops and NOT butcher shops. That's one way to ensure your royal nostrils are not offended. Those original deeds are still in effect so all of the current shops are owned and run by descendents of the original 16th century tenants.

After crossing the bridge, it was time to look for a place to have dinner. There were some intriguing sidestreets to explore:



Along one of them we found a great outdoor restaurant and sat down to a meal. I had a delicious salad of fresh tomatoes and fresh basil drizzled in olive oil. Meredith had a tossed salad and for our main dish we shared a large plate of fried calamari which was delicious. A very distinguished, well-dressed older man was seated by himself at the next table drinking a bottle of water. He began talking to us in Italian and Meredith responded. It turned out he was, in fact, Argentinian, and switched to Spanish which Meredith was able to understand, as well. He was quite a character, obviously very taken with her and impressed with her language skills and her experience in Milan. He was visiting a friend in Florence who visits him regularly. His passion was the Tango and he was quite excited to hear that Meredith has a dance background. It was fascinating to watch the two of them conversing, although I was only able to glean small amounts of the conversation, having no Italian language skills and VERY rusty Spanish from my high school and college days.
He was very concerned about my Pisa sunburn and advised me to be sure to put "crema" on it. I assured him that I would. He was such a pleasant person, very well-travelled and refined. He struck me as an example of consummate Old World refinement.

After dinner we set off to find a very special place to have dessert. When I bought my Florence travel guide on-line from Half.com, the person who sold it to me inserted a note specifically recommending a place called Hemingways. The book describes it as a "chocolate-lover's haven." That was all we needed to hear. Armed with the address and our handy-dandy Streetwise map of Florence, we eventually found it... and it was SO worth it! We drooled over the glass enclosed case filled with the most incredible chocolate confections, finally settling on a flourless chocolate cake and a small round chocolate tart smothered in whipped cream. We sat and savored our desserts, licking the spoons most unceremoniously at the end, paid the bill (about 12 euros or $16 and worth EVERY penny) and then dreamily started back to the hotel. It was after 9PM and just beginning to get dark as we walked along the river before crossing one of the other bridges spanning the Arno. Bats were swooping around us...not my favorite sensation...but it felt so wonderful to be strolling in this magical place. I took one last picture of the river before leaving the Arno.





Goodnight, Florence!


The next morning we had a couple of hours before our train back to Milan so Meredith decided that our trip would not be complete without a little physical exertion. We grabbed some breakfast and then set off for the belltower of the Duomo. We had actually hoped to climb the dome, something she had not done on her first trip, but it didn't open until later. We paid a few euros each to the bored looking attendant at the base and started up the 414 steps. It was early, about 8:30 but the day was warm already, and the climb was steep. I felt very proud of myself for reaching the top without having to require the services of the Florence emergency medical community. I had seen how they handle those in distress two nights earlier and I was determined not to have to be carried down in a stretcher and risk being dropped!

What we saw on top was gorgeous!








Looking towards the Arno and the Palazzo Vecchio









That's the train station in the center, from which we would be departing for Milan in about an hour.












The Cathedral and Dome from above (note the graffitti on the ledge... it was everywhere!)













Morning shot of the dome










Yeah, we made it!...tired, sunburnt but victorious!!














On our way back down we passed the original bell on display... also marred by graffiti.


















A shot down the center to the landing below.







The tower from the Palazzo Vecchio. No, it's not leaning... I was.




















My final Florence picture as we walked back to the hotel to collect our bags. There was something so majestic about this Roman Soldier, looking battle weary but so proud.

I LOVED Florence and hope to return to explore more of it someday. But now, it's on to Milan for one night and then the Spain adventure begins!