Arrival

Well, we arrived just fine and on time at 6pm on Sunday night. The flight was long but OK. Clearing security a second time in London was a pain, but we all got through in time to catch our next flight. Penny's bag didn't show up, so we stayed all day Monday in Milan. Her bag was delivered to our hotel about 4pm, so we caught the 5pm train to Florence. It's a 2 hour 45 min trip by train and is much more comfortable then flying. Though getting our tickets was interesting. The ticket lady was having a bad day. First she thought we wanted tickets for later in the evening, then she gave us tickets for the 11th. We finally got it straightened out, but actually got the last few seats on the train.

Milan was nice, the weather was sunny and in the low 70's. We had a great breakfast at our hotel, then walked through the whole old town, about 3 km or so up to the Cathedral. It's pretty amazing, especially on the outside. Part of the outside has been cleaned & restored, and part is under reconstruction. I have some nice pictures to share, but can't download them from this particular internet connection. I hope to get them down loaded on Friday morning, so check back on Saturday your time. We also walked up to the old main fortress/castle. It has a great park/garden around it which was very nice to walk through. The Chestnut trees were dripping huge chestnuts all over the trails.

Today we had a quick breakfast and then our guide met us a little before 10 am. We walked around the main points of Florence, and then ended up at the Uffizi Gallery. That took a couple of hours. I wish I could have taken some pictures of the the corridor ceilings. I know, I was supposed to be looking at the paintings (which were great) but it's always some other detail that catches my interest.

Tomorrow we're going to stop at another sculpture museum, then off to breakfast and THEN we plan to climb the 480+ steps to the top of the Dumo's dome and get pictures from up there. It should be sunny and warm again tomorrow, mid 70's. The sky has been totally clear, so the view should be great. I'll post those pictures on Friday too!

Anyway, I just wanted to leave a note saying all was well, we're having a great time. Plenty of wine to drink :-)