{Firenze}

Right now I'm sitting in our hotel room listening to a woman sing opera outside on the plaza. How Italian can you get? Scott is sleeping and snoring which just adds to the ambiance really. Today's schedule was busy but not extreme. Some things were closed because it is Sunday so we were leisurely in our plans. Since he is asleep I won't wake him to ask the names, but we went to the famous bridge that crosses the river Arno, a look out point to see the city and the big church, which I think is Santa Croce (Galileo and Michelangelo are buried there). The weather was really nice, maybe 70. It feels slightly cooler than it is because of the humidity. I can spot the American tourists a mile away. We are the ones in bright colors and short sleeves.

Here are some of the pictures from today. I had to take more bike pictures because they make me smile. The bikes here are sooo trashed. According to Scott it is because the nice bikes get stolen. The paintings were in the church and it was very dark. I am feeling lucky with my new lens. I had wanted to buy so many things for the trip, a flash, a telephoto lens, a new camera. In the end I decided to be practical (never very fun) and bought an extra battery, a 4 GB memory card and a 50mm lens, 1.8 aperture ($100). So cheap! I now laugh at dingy, dark spaces. Bring it on.