Hannah should be thanking her lucky stars that I didn't strangle her this morning... Mixing alcohol and my pills probably wasn't a good idea... this morning I was not in the mood to deal with her so after a few of her snippy remarks, I told her I'd see her at the hostel and I walked away. I decided to spend the morning wandering around Florence, first I headed to the Mercato Nuovo. At one time this market was the center point of Florence's trade, now it's filled with vendors selling trashy tourist trinkets. I just stayed long enough to rub the Foutana del Porcellino (Piglet's Fountain), which is supposed to bring you good luck. Next I headed across the Ponte Vecchio to the market at Piazza Santo Spirito where I encountered a bum asleep on a bench with his very shaggy dog. I wouldn't have given the scene a second thought, but I noticed that the man had a strange-looking silver stool so he stuck out in my head. The Piazza houses a lesser-known Brunelleschi designed church, but unfortunately he died before construction was completed and those who finished it did not stay completely loyal to his design... even with the changes the church is an architectural beauty. After relaxing and taking in the quietness of the square I walked up Florence's only hill, Costa di San Giorgio, the hill is quite steep but along the way I stumbled upon the former home of Galileo. I kept walking uphill and passed through Florence's old city gates... the street on the other side of the gates was lined with old Italian villas. I was admiring one villa from the driveway and all of the sudden a security gate closed behind me! I was locked in! I wandered around the yard of this amazing house trying to figure out if I should call for help, or try to sneak out to avoid getting into trouble. For the first time in a long time I was absolutely terrified. I couldn't find a way out, but I did find an 100-year-old-looking gardener trimming some hedges. Using sign language, a little bit of Italian and some tears, I was able to communicate what happened to me. He introduced himself ,"Mi chiamo Antonio", and I told him "Mi chiamo Melanie, Sono stupido Americano, mi dispiace." Which I think translates as "My name is Melanie, I'm a stupid American, I'm sorry." Antonio laughed told me something in Italian that I didn't understand and let me out. The rest of the walk wasn't quite as eventful. I passed a monastery and couple hear singing coming from inside, which brought a smile to my face. The views from Piazza San Michelangelo were fantastic, worth the steep climb and illegal trespassing... Back in Florence I headed to the line at the Uffizi, in a square off from the museum a familiar dog caught my eye, I followed him and he led me to the homeless man I encountered this morning. He works as one of those human statues, he was painted silver and standing on that silver stool I had noticed earlier. When I finally entered the square in front of the Uffizi I noticed a lot of people heading away from the museum, when entered the square, there was a museum employee standing at the end of the line turning people away. He stood in front of a sign that said the museum was closing in a hour and no one else could get in the line... I pouted a little, then thought I might try reasoning with the guard, I recalled a silly phrase that I memorized from my Italian language guide "Ho promesso a mia madre sul letto di morte che averi visto questo." ("It was my mother's dying wish that I see this"). The guide smiled and let in into the line! My little Italian went a really long way today. I had to rush through the museum at breakneck speed, but I would rather go fast than not at all!