Life in Firenze....

Another look of the Ponte Vecchio from my dining room.

I don't know how this got in here, but it's a Christmas tree that was inside
the Museum of the Ponte Vecchio.  It was huge, you will later.  I thought
I had "stood" it up, but I guess not.

When I walk to my apartment back from the hotel, this is what I see.

Maria, the breakfast manager, and best cappuccino maker in the world!

This is Joel, who made my stepping stool so I could get up on the bed.
He works here in all kids of roles.

Look at the gorgeous decorations lining the middle of the street!  I couldn't
get a picture of it, because I was always in the bus, but there was a
street that was lined with lit-up umbrellas, like six across, and about 50 lines.   It was
gorgeous to see, too bad I couldn't get a picture of them,

What would be a good caption for this fish at the market?

Another beautiful street

My incredible mussle, or clam dish at the market where I have
eaten MANY times.

Another beautiful street

This is called inzimino and it's a soup-type stew with calamari
and lots of spinach in a light broth.  With a nice piece of bread, it's
pretty yummy food, and it's not heavy.

I found these fingerling potatoes in the market and brought them home
and roasted them with a little bit of olive oil, salt and pepper.
I swear they were the BEST tasting potatoes I have ever had.
I ate them for three meals.

Can't see too much, but the street looked lovely.

This beautiful Christmas tree is near Il Duomo, which is a building I
just cannot get over how beautiful and spectacular it is.

Another lovely street.   This street is near my apartment.

I am crossing one of the bridges to go to this side of the river walk.
It's sunny and it makes a huge difference.  Look at the
dismal view I have to put up with every day.

Some of the lovely window boxes with geraniums along the buildings.

This is for my friend, Paco.  You didn't think we were done
with the doors, did you?

The National Library

The Vasari corridor with the Ufizzi Gallery is located.

Home-made pasta

Just a gorgeous flower arrangement

There were about six of these along the side of a large store.

This is at the Piazza de la Signoria (government) and it has copies of all the
major sculptures in Florence.

Piazza de la Signoria with the beautiful fountain.

A sculpture of Garibaldi at the Piazza

Here is the fountain again...

And again.....

Another lovely Christmas decoration

This is the Christmas tree inside the Ponte Vecchio museum.
I really nice couple from Japan took the picture for me.  I also
took theirs.

It was huge!

This is a real cute children's store featuring nothing but Pinocchio,
because he was originally from Florence.

The kids can stick their head into a Pinocchio board and take
their picture as Pinocchio.   They love it!

This was an open-air Christmas market that was soooo fun
to be at.  People everywhere, Christmas ornamentations
everywhere and FOOD, FOOD, FOOD.

Look at the pieces of pork being roasted here.

Look at the portion they served you, including the potatoes!

Pastries

This would be the equivalent of a "churro"..... fried dough and then dipped
into different sugars, like this one with cinnamon, yummy!

If you have trouble with vampires, this would be your stand.

Music

Haribo had a good stand with all kinds of gummy candies, including
gummy bears.   Brought back a lot of memories for the
Gummy Bears unit I used to do in kinder.

A pig's fate.... what can I say?  Look at the
shishkabobs on the bottom left.

This is the serving.....

Lovely banner with Merry Christmas Firenze

Even in the cold, people eating and drinking cold beer outside.

Very lovely pottery.   Reminded me a lot of talavera from Mexico.

Here's one of my favorite places to eat in Florence.

The outside of the restaurant

Featuring Brunello de Montalcino wine.... probably the best wine in all
of Italy....   we could argue that one over a few bottles.....

I'm already friends with the very friendly chef.

My osso busso.    Absolutely to die for!

My pannacotta.... Again, I repeat myself, to die for.

Here's that very famous Tuscan Steak.  The waitress is cutting it
for some guys to eat who are seating in front of me.   There about
seven of them and they are sharing about three of them.
Of course, they have already had the antipasti, lots of it, the primo piato, pasta, pasta,
pasta, and now comes the real meal:   the steak.

Look at the size.

Beefeaters, eat your heart out!

All good things must come to an end.

A typical street, lined with fall foliage, very pretty.

Entrance to Hotel David

I loved the decorations at this store.

Another piazza, another market

Carousel at that piazza.  It's so nice how Italians always include
something for young ones.

Music, music, music

A side street view of Il Duomo

That magnificent building, with that lovely tree

That beautiful tree, huge

Okay, for now, I think this is the last one....

Look at how they decorate the gelato... those are real pieces of
coconut and strawberries....

Look at the bananas, the melo in the background....

Look at the real pineapple....

My favorite is pistachio, look at the green one1

This is David and Jody.   A lovely couple I met at the hotel.
They are from Kansas City and they sort of
"adopted" me.   We are sure to see each other
again.

The Swee family with their two daughters and me.

December 25, 2013
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!   AND THE VERY BEST FOR THE NEW YEAR, 2014 FOR ALL MY FAMILY AND GOOD FRIENDS!
It's been a while since I have written and posted pictures, so be ready to read and enjoy some (I think) lovely pictures of the glorious Florence in full Christmas regalia, AND lots of food!
I am going to try to post them after the text, but they have a mind of their own and just post themselves wherever they like.... maybe it's more like I don't know how the heck to place them where I want.
Life in Florence had turned into a very nice, relaxing routine.   In the morning, I would get up late, around 8:00 am, fix my breakfast, and answer and write e-mails and take care of some business stuff.   So, by 11:00 am I was ready for my outing.  Every day I went to a museum, a church, walking around the Duomo area, very busy and bustling, it's at the end of the Ponte Vecchio and then plan where I was going to have a yummy lunch.   Dinner was always at the apartment it was mostly vegetables that I had bought at the market, or a small sandwich.  I would come to the hotel for the social hour to meet with the other nice folks here.   I even found me a lady to exchange English for Italian and we started last Monday, December 23.  We met here at the hotel.   She is very, very nice.   She's an accountant and she wants to improve her overall fluency.  She's teaching me Italian.
Gabriele asked me to move to the hotel so he could so some repairs in the apartment and I was not at all bothered by this.   There's always people here and I like the interaction.   Sometimes, it's dauntingly quiet at the apartment with nothing but the sound of Charlie's Angels in Italian.   I never knew those women could speak Italian so well, did you?  In any case, I moved all my stuff over here and will be here until the 28, or 29th.  Then, I go back "home".  So much for the everyday life.
So, listen to what happened to me.   You won't believe it because I DON'T BELIEVE IT.  I was checking on my bank accounts, especially the Italy Fund where the money is that I use for all of this and it was WIPED OUT!   The scoundrels left me with $38.00 from almost $10,000.   Of course, I called my banker in Tucson and told him all about it.   This happend on Monday, December 23.  He is doing the BEST he can, but these days are good for quick action with all the holidays and shortened hours and all that.   The withdrawals all come from very strange places like Bulgaria, Macedonia, Turkey, and places that are written in Sirilic (Russian) symbols.   I had been having trouble withdrawing money from the ATM machines, it kept telling me I had reached my limit for the day, and I couldn't understand why.   So, I called my banker, who happens to be one of my best friends, and he RAISED the limit, so now they have more money to take out.  Needless to say, it's been an anxious few days, but I am confident that everything is going to work out.   I have a new card being DHLed here.  Hopefully it will be here by Friday, and the money SHOULD be reinstated by then as well.   Ayayay, this has really been an adventure, and one that I have not enjoyed very much.  If things don't get back on track, I am pretty sure I am going to have to return to Arizona.  Or, I will have to be very creative with how I spend my money here.  So, for the time being, I'm fine and just waiting for all this to play out.  It's been harrowing and I have spent a couple of sleepless nights.  Hopefully, all will be back to normal soon.
Today, Christmas Day, was a windy, blistering cold day.   I was invited by Maria, the lady who makes the best cappuccinos to Christmas lunch and we had a blast.   Apparently, in Italy, the Christmas meal is at lunch time and we sure did it right!   You will se pictures later on, but it consisted of a special Christmas menu:  an antipasti dish with the typical Tuscan items:  prosciuto, salami, olives, cheese and a couple of bits of bruscheta with liver pate.  Then came the primo piato:  ravioli filled with ricotta and spinach and a portion of pasta with wild boar sauce.    Then comes the secondo piato:  Tuscan steak and wild boar stew.  A side dish of some of the best tasting vegetables came along:  very lightly fried zucchini, carrots, onion, and artichokes.   It reminded me of the best tempura I have ever had.  Wine was included as well as dessert.   I had a dessert called profiterole, which are dough balls filled with sweet mascarpone, or riccotta, I'm not completely sure, and then dipped in hot dark chocolate......  She has one that is made with egg whites, sort of like merengue, called merengueto,  but not so soft and not baked, it was cold with the consistency of ice cream.  We talked about our lives and I got to know her and she got to know me.   Everybody has such an interesting story even if they don't think so.  We had a great lunch at a nearby restaurant, very family style, because  most places were closed today and, the buses stopped running at 12:00 noon.  I didn't want her to pay for a cab because they are so expensive and they should be since petrol is almost $10 per GALLON!   So, don't complain about the prices in the USA!
Okay, now for some pictures.....

These are the gas prices.  1.64 and 1.71 Euros per liter.   That translates
to about $9.00 per gallon!