Firenze Thursday, May 24, 2012

Thursday I arrived at the hotel at 4.00 to great hugs from Alessio and Asumi. Asumi has a new haircut which is very Italian and adorable.

I brought them honey mustard pretzels for the first time. They were thrilled. Also a new Trader Joe's cloth shopping bag, Ghirardelli 75% chocolate bar and spicy hot chocolate mix. They lived in San Diego for a few years. I try to bring items they might be missing. Asumi grabbed the Trader Joe's Flyer newspaper! It's great for practicing English too.

I changed clothes and by 5.00 I had walked straight to my favorite dvd store, located near the Santa Maria Novella Hospital. Buy three and get one free. I bought nine and walked out with 12. These DVDs are the most important items on my shopping list. They are essential tools for learning Italian.

Next are books, so I stopped in at Edison Libreria and bought three books books in the Valentina school girl series. I need to go back and find a few mysteries and one cookbook. Then I went looking for photographs!

With all my purchases, I stopped for dinner about 8pm at my favorite restaurant. They always great me with: 'ben ritornata Signoria!' and let me choose any table I like. They gave me the English menu. I had to have them trade it for an Italian one. The menu is very poorly translated and I had no clear idea what the dish is supposed to be.

I decided on Four Seasons pizza because I was hungry for meat and vegetables. I ate almost the entire pizza: ham, artichokes, black olives, mushrooms on a light tomato base. I drank one whole quart of water. I saved the crusts in a napkin for future snacking.



It's just a few steps to the hotel and by 9.00 I was sound asleep.  Buona notte!