Back at the computer

Finally, I get a chance to get to the computer! It’s been a fun couple of days… now I just have to remember what I was doing when I left off. Hmm…

Saturday afternoon, we headed to the airport to meet my friends Donna and Rick. We walked up to the bus station because we had been told one could catch a bus to the airport from there, and it was immediately apparent when we got there that we had absolutely no clue what bus to take or where to find it. The bus station here is made up of berths on a couple of off-street lanes for local buses, and one of the city streets where the inter-city buses board. It’s right next to the train station, which just adds to the confusion, and it must have taken at least twenty minutes to figure out where the airport shuttle stops, and by that time we had just missed one and didn’t know when the next would arrive. Switching to plan (B), we jumped into the taxi queue, and after another ten minutes or so were speeding along to the airport, arriving about 25 minutes late for the flight. Lucky for us, Air France was also about 20 minutes late, so that hadn’t even made it out of the baggage claim yet. Whew! Note to myself: The airport shuttle isn’t worth the hassle of finding it. For about €15.00 (about seven € more), one can get there without running across town and getting all stressed out about being in the right place at whatever moment the bus is supposed to go by.

Anyhow… we captured our friends, took a cab back to the apartment, dropped off their stuff, and set out for a short city tour and some food. Had another great dinner at the Fox and Rooster (can’t think of the Italian name at the moment), stopped afterward for the nightly gelato, and then off to bed. If you can imagine two people being cramped in the munchkins’ apartment, try to imagine FOUR. Fortunately, Donna and Rick are easy to be around, and, most importantly, aren’t very BIG. It appears (because we just tried it this very moment) that Donna might actually graze her head on the beams in the kitchen, but only the guys have to worry about the doorways. Va bene.

Yesterday, we ended up heading back up to the Piazzle Michelangelo and to the San Miniato chapel. I’ve covered those before in these blogs so I won’t repeat myself, but we had a great time. Lunch was a round of appetizers at a patio café we had been wanting to try and hadn’t had the chance to yet, and dinner was at the Osteria de Pozze, where we had the CAPA welcome dinner, and the food was simple but amazing. I had spaghetti with a terrific spicy marinara sauce; Donna got a chicken breast that was stuffed with zucchini, red peppers, and Parmesan, and Rick’s pasta with pesto sauce was the best I’ve tasted anywhere. Top that off with a liter of the house wine, and it was perfect… right up until we went out for gelato to finish the evening. Yum.

Now we’re off to catch up with Harry, so… ciao!

-Leanne