May 16 - A Free and Easy Day

No early trains to catch, no tours planned - just a day to do as we please.  So everyone was off to accomplish one thing or another.  Shopping seemed to have been high on the list for most of us.  Today's photos are a collection of shopping opportunities at different places we have visited.  So take a look and decide what you would have spent your euros on!  Stay tuned for more adventures coming up tomorrow . . .

 

May 15 - Exploring More of Florence

It's Friday and we're having a "home day" here in Florence.  The morning was free time to recover from Cinque Terre yesterday and to go meet Patrizia's son, Brad (father of Victoria), who flew here from China.  Yes, China - he's working there training caddies for a new golf course opening in July.  In the afternoon we did another walkabout in Florence to visit the Medici Chapel where most of the powerful Renaissance family is entombed.  The newest part (1500's) of the chapel was designed by Michelangelo and his sculptures decorate the tombs.  It is truly an amazing place to see.  We also saw the house of the famous poet, Dante, who was also father of the official Italian language since he was the first to write in the Tuscan tongue rather than Latin.  His poetic Divine Comedy is a classic masterpiece written in the 1300's.   We had some photo fun with another "homeboy", Pinocchio.  His creator, the writer Collate, was a Tuscan and lived part of his childhood here in Florence.   At Santa Croce we took a look at the leather school and retail shop housed in the old monastery.  A rain shower caught us as we wandered back home but all in all we had a nice afternoon discovering more of this beautiful city.