Day 41

Hello Everyone,
  Happy to report the Camera shop was open, my camera however has seen better days and needs to go back to Costco, but I have a new Pentax for only 99 euros. Not bad and now I will have a spare. I was so happy. I really let go of it last night and see what happened? It all worked out! More pics to come:) That is how my day began and it is ending pretty well as you will see later:)

   I went to the Duomo and the area where you could climb up is closed on Sunday so I climbed the 414 stairs to the top of the tower. It was narrow and claustrophobic and I cannot reiterate this enough... DO NOT walk up this tower in the summer when there are a million people here! It would be miserable. There were quite a few people today but if there were any more it would not have been good and coming down was a bit scary. Also if you are planning the climb do it first thing in the morning when you still have your legs and are strong. I was lucky with that one. As for climbing up the 474 steps of the Duomo, I really don't know if I need to do that, is 60 more stairs going to be that much better???? Unless of course I need to burn off some gelato. Whoever said Florence was small was smoking something. I think it's big. Well I guess anything is big compared to Pisa and Venice:)
  Hmmmm I wonder who the guy in the Gelato shop is giving that cone too???

  Oh and I almost forgot to tell you, there was a heat wave today.... It was 57* and so sunny, not a cloud in the sky. I wore a short sleeve top and my...well...new brown leather Pinko jacket:) I brought along an umbrella just in case and good thing because later in the day it started raining.
   I went to the Galleria degli Accademia, now that was a great museum. Everyone, I saw the original "David" just to let you know my bar is now raised!!! I even bought a miniature one, I couldn't help it, call me a tourist, seriously I stayed there so long, it was just incredible to see in person and the best part is no one was there. In the summer it is packed and hot. I am telling you this is the time to travel, it's great. So I walked around David admiring the amazing artistry. The art at this museum is just wonderful. A must see while in Florence.
   I realized one thing that was bothering me yesterday, I have been planning everyday and I was just tired and wished someone else could just take over for one day so I solved that and booked a tour for tomorrow. I am leaving at 9am and going to Siena and San Gimignano. I am feeling really happy for that decision.
   Also when I came back to the hotel I came down to the lounge and met a nice Italian man named Gian Luca (popular name here in Italy) and we got to talking and I mentioned wanting to take a cooking class and not finding one that I felt good about and he knew of a great one very near the hotel. So I signed up to take classes Tuesday and Wednesday night. On Tuesday one of the items we are making is none other than Gelato, among others. I couldn't resist. Then as I was still in the lounge the server in the bar came over and said I had a phone call, It was Gian Luca asking me out to dinner. I said yes. Isn't this day sounding so much better than my day yesterday? Ya I know!
   So I am waiting for my dinner companion to arrive. If I'm not to tired when I get back I will let you know how it went. Or you may have to wait until Tomorrow.
   Arrivederci for now, love
                                    Laura

                             








In the tower enjoying the moment:)

Thought for the day:
Our minds mold our thoughts and our thoughts mold who we are, we have power over our minds, it is our choice to:
Be nice or mean
Be honest or lie
Be humble or arrogant
Be generous or stingy
Be tolerant or impatient
Be grounded or pretentious
Be positive or negative
Be open minded or close minded
Be funny or serious
and to:
Love or hate
The choice is ours