The last two days have been quite a blur. Transition from place to place can be a bit unpredictable. After being served and waited-on with great care for seven days on the ship, we disembarked and got a quick dose of reality dragging our luggage from the port's "people mover" to the train station. It was not a bad walk, just hot and in a herd of other people also dragging their luggage up steps and over the bridge of the Grand Canal and up the two sets of wide steps leading to Stazione San Lucia. Since we had about 2 hours wait before our train to Florence, we thought about getting that gondola ride. However, considering a ride with luggage down through the canals of Venice during the mid-day heat at a price of 150 Euros, about $200+ in US dollars, the gondola ride lost its romantic appeal. We settled for a table at an outdoor cafe with a carafe of white wine, and people-watched the endless streams of those walking the main street along the canal. This proved to be much more romantic, fun and very civilized.

The train ride to Florence was pleasant. It was the same route we took 6 or 7 years ago when we traveled from Venice to Rome. We passed some of the same villages that first inspired us to seek out smaller towns and villages as destinations rather than large cities and typical tourist spots.

Firenze is just as it is depicted, very, very beautiful. Built in a valley between wide rows of hills and divided by the River Arno, Florence was once the capital of Italy and is certainly a center for art and culture. Views with hills, church domes, villas and tall cedars and poplars, make me think of old fashioned postcards and Biblical pictures my grandmother used to show to me.

We have a small yet very nice apartment but . . no WIFI -- grrrr! This means that blog updates and communication with family will be rare for the next few days! How debilitating!! But I'll try to get over it. The apartment is located near to Parco delle Cascine, a very large park which lines the Fiume Arno and provides a great place to get our morning exercise and fresh air. It features the Ippodromo Le Mulina, a track for silky racing. We will miss seeing a race by only one day! On our walk/run yesterday we passed maybe 75-100 men fishing along the banks of the Arno. We thought it was curious that they were so evenly spaced and all had similar equipment including long fishing rods that reached out into the water 20 feet. What we chanced upon happened to be the Sport Fishing World Championship Tournament. We watched for about an hour and saw not one fish being caught!

Later we signed on to a tour bus that provides hop-on and hop-off riding privileges around the city for 48 hours along with commentary to introduce us to the sights we pass. We took the Southern route yesterday and took pictures of the city from the Piazzle Michelangelo and also hopped-off at Palasso Pitti and had lunch at the foot of the palace. As we completed the tour, we marked a important spots we'll visit again later in the week, such as Santa Croce which holds the tomb of Michelangelo, Machiavelli and the composer Rossini. We also want to visit Galleria dell'Accademia where Michelangelo's original "David" stands. We'll board the bus again and visit the northern side of the city today.

Tomorrow, we will meet our dear friends, Pam and Art Croci, whom we haven't seen in 17 years since both families lived in St. Louis the last time. We plan to see the Giardino Di Boboboli for one thing, but knowing us, it'll be a time for laughing, hugging, happy-tears, and power-chatting! Better get out the wine!