Hello Florence

I have yet to become jaded by the wonderful reality of modern day air travel.  You can always find people who whine about having to deal with security and line ups et cetera, but frankly, these people have lost sight of the big picture.  It is amazing to think that I can get on a plane at 6 PM in Calgary, 9 hours later be in Frankfurt, a quick transfer to another flight and a couple hours later a cab is depositing us at our rental apartment in Piazza Santa Croce.  Before I start whining like the masses, I think about what this journey would involve if we were taking a boat.

We were a little jet lagged upon arriving and so we had a late afternoon nap before venturing out for a  look at our neighborhood.  We took an evening stroll along the south side of the Arno River and then crossed back to the north side on the famous Ponto Vecchio.  It was after 9 PM when we walked our starving selves into what we thought was a simple pizza joint.  They asked us if we simply wanted pizza or "real restaurant" food.  When we said that we wanted the latter, they took us though the pizza joint and down some stairs to an adjoining restaurant that had a separate entrance on the street.  What a treat!  This place was full of Italians.  Some of them were having a birthday party and they sure were having fun.  They started singing an Italian song for a woman's birthday and other tables joined in and there was lots of clapping and flailing of arms to the music and we joined in clapping and laughing.  So cool!  We defiantly are not in "reserved" Paris. If the Italians are there, the food should be good and sure enough, it was fantastic.  I had a Florentine style of tripe.  The best cow guts I've ever had. Ann's lasagna and Alli's gnocchi were made with homemade pasta.  So good. I'm looking forward to more of what Florence has to fill my face.