Sunday, April 20, 2008

Only four days left. I just ache when I realize it is time to go home in just four days. I truly have not had enough of this place. It is so wonderful on so many levels.

Today, we went to the Pitti Palace and saw the Palentine Gallery and 6 rooms of the palace that are preserved to show what the place looked like when royalty lived there in the 1800's. What fun we had looking at rooms and rooms of exceptional art work, statues and the palace gardens from several of the windows in the rooms. When we got to the living quarters, it was a treat to see how they lived and the wonderful pieces of art, pottery and statues they collected from all over the world.

Tonight, we are fixing our own dinner. We are having a roasted chicken that Carol picked up at a little food shop near our apartment. We are fixing some fresh pasta that we got at the Central Market a few days ago. Fresh basil, tomatoes, green and red peppers and some fresh mushrooms are going to be sauted and then added to a prepared red sauce and served with the chicken. Yummy.

We have plans to visit a nearby town, Orvieto on Tuesday. We don't think the cooking class is going to happen. Mom can't stand for four hours through the classes we have found. If we don't do that, we will find something special to see in Florence.

We are leaving here on Wednesday, April 23rd in the early evening. We have booked a hotel nearl the Milan Airport for the night. Our flight home leaves there at noon so we won't have to get up at the crack of dawn in Florence, take a 3 hour train to Milan and then stress about making our connections. The hotel has a free shuttle to the airport so I know we will be fine.

We arrive at LAX at 6:30 p.m. Thursday night. A very long day. It will be 3:30 Friday Morning in Milan when we get home. We are going to be exhausted.

I will be writing more about this trip as I go through all of my journal entries, pictures and mementos. I hope you will continue to check back to read about "The Time of Our Lives."

Love, Kathy