Today it was very cold, 9 °C (49°F). The apartment is drafty. My fingers are going to freeze off because the only channels we get on the TV are in Italian. (Like that is a big surprise.) So I decided I would read or work on crossword puzzles. That requires that my fingers be out from under the covers. It is going to be worth learning Italian just so I can keep my hands under the covers.

OK, so I might be exaggerating but it does get chilly in the apartment.

Tomorrow we both need to get some work done (me editing a thesis and Jim a paper) so we decided today would be our last free day. We went walking for a bit to see a few more things. We went to the Mercato Centrale where there are a lot of food stalls. Fresh meat and cheese and veggies. We got some spinach wrapped in meat for dinner. I don’t know what meat though. It looks like pork and then beef, but who knows. If it isn’t good, we’ll throw it out. If it is good, we’ll eat it and not worry about what it really is.

We bought a phone card today too. We tried to call you guys but the phone in the apartment still isn’t working and we couldn’t figure out the pay phone. Be patient!!

We also went up to Piazza Michelangelo for a great view of the city of Florence. It was windy and my hair is all over the place.

You can see all of the major sights - the duomo is the dome-looking thing (right of my head), Santa Croce (mentioned earlier, further right of my head, above random stranger), the Palazzo Vecchio (city hall, left of my head) and the Ponte Vecchio (very left of photo, only half on). It’s almost like you are here!!

We then walked (hiked up a monstrous hill) to San Miniato Church. Nothing really of interest, but very cool on the inside.

Cool altar.

As we were there, the bells starting calling people to the 5PM mass. It is a working church and is still functioning as a monastery. As the mass got underway, the monks starting doing some Gregorian chanting:

Sorry they are fuzzy, but I didn’t want to use the flash. I thought it would be bad form to ask them to stand still too.

Very cool, but we left after about 15 minutes. (Don’t worry, we didn’t ever go where they were holding mass. We kind of stood on the outside and just watched.) The marble that I was sitting on was chilling my patukus.

Going down the hill was much easier than walking up. We passed a Pizzeria and “American Bar”. I can guess who that caters too. We also walked past the only gate to the city of Florence that is still standing:

It is ENORMOUS. You can see the rising moon as that white speck up in the sky to the right of the tower. I was trying to be all artsy and put it in perspective but it didn’t work out too well. That’s OK. It’s close to the apartment so I can go take another photo if I want.

That’s the report for today.

On the wine side of things, we are drinking (right now, as I write this!!) a 2004 Rosso di Montalcino from Tenuta la Fuga, 2004. Very yummy. Sour cherries on the nose with a hint of leather or spice. Better today than it was yesterday.