On the road again...

Well, on our feet, anyway. Today was a walking day, and we got quite a bit of it in. Started by heading east along the Arno until we got to ponte San Niccolo, then across the bridge and north to viale Duca d’Albruzzi. West again, past the University of Florence, over toward the CAPA offices for a noon meeting. After chatting with everyone there a while, we headed southwest to piazza Santo Spirito for lunch with Judith. Then, back up to the Duomo (got a little off-track there), and then back to the apartment. Maybe 4-1/2 to five miles total. Looks like those toes of mine are getting tougher—I survived the trip with no new blisters, and no worsening of the existing one.

Over at CAPA we told Lorenzo that we’d prefer to just stay put. He was actually really nice about it, given the fact we dragged him out for about an hour and a half yesterday when he could have been doing something more productive. I’ll have to see if I can make him some cookies or something as a thank-you. Wonder if I can turn on the oven here without burning down the building?

I waylaid a few dogs today with scratches, and didn’t seem to annoy their owners any. I think I may have mentioned that the Florentines love dogs, and we see them everywhere—on the sidewalks, in cafes, and even in the markets. Today’s pooches were especially cool; one was a little terrier-type guy who seemed surprised I would pay attention to him, another was a very pretty yellow lab, and a third was an unspeakably cute black-and-white Springer puppy. It’s no substitute for being with my own kids, of course, but it’s nice to be able to get a little bit of a fix from time to time.

Seems the ATM card has gone on the fritz (I just love how banks put these “fraud alerts” on your ATM card at exactly the most inconvenient of times, even though you called them ahead of time to let them know you’d be using it overseas), so that may require a couple of phone calls back home to see what can be done about it. Meanwhile, I may run up the road and see if I can take another stab at a nearby geocache (geocaching is sort of a worldwide treasure hunt for geeks; see www.geocaching.com if you’re curious about it) before it gets too dark. Until tomorrow, then…

Ciao!
-Leanne