PortofiNO, Firenze si

On the overnight on our way to Portofino, there were big storms, or so we heard - thunder and lightning on shore. Dennis saw them, too, in the morning. I woke up a bunch of tiimes in the night with the ship rocking and eventually a bottle of wine rolling around in the cabinet. I figured our chances of seeing Porotfino, a tender port, were slim, and in fact the captain informed us at around 7:30 that morning that we would not be getting off the ship that day. At about 7:50 Dennis got the call we had been expecting to give a lecture that morning.



We had a rollicking breakfast, passing lot of seasick bags on the way that were conveniently left around byt the staff. Many of them got used, too. Dennis did his lecture, barely making it through without needing one of the bags himself. It was in an enclosed, dark room without windows. Not the place to be on rough seas! So we spent most of the rest of the day on the top deck in the high winds with an eye to the horizon.



The winds subsided enough by dinner time that we could enjoy a final dinner with our new firends and then watch the show. They had to change the show, too, since a couple of the dancers were too seasick to perform.



Princess kindly put us on a bus to the Ostiense train station in Rome the next morning, and we took the Metro across town to the main train station and caught a train to Florence. The Eurostar gets you there in 1 1/2 hours, quite a change from the 4 hours it used to take and in much comfort. Our friend Rossella met us at the airport with our large suitcases, one of which is now fondly named La Bestia - the Beast. Emilia was working so we headed to their house, had a bite to eat and headed into the countryside to Greve in Chianti to look at the pretty piazza there. Then we headed to Emilia's pizzeria/trattoria for dinner with Wilma and Wanda (aka W2 - names speeled with a W but prounounced with a V). Emilia's place was packed. They sent out 36 pizzas to go while we were there, and there wasn't an empty seat in the place either. It's good to have the business, but they were working hard! Emilia sent out some tasty fried pasta with mascarpone and then we had a fritto misto di carne and fritto misto di verdure (fired meats incuding beef, chicken and rabbit and fried veggies). Somehow they wren't heavy, just delicious! She also brought out some tasty squid with cannellini beans for Dennis.

The next day, Emilia was off. Dennis plated Cicero, the teacher, for her as she alwyas likes. We headed into the center of Florence to visit the museum of the Opere del Duomo, which we hadn't seen in years. It was great. We picked up lunch from a little place that makes panini and sells coldcuts where the guy who runs it was a classmate of Emilia's and ate our lunch at home. Then we headed tot he countryside to Pienza in the hills beyond Siena. It has a quintessential Renaissance central piazza and lots of cute shops to visit. After a glass of wine there, we headed to the nearbyt tiny town of Bagno Vignoli to visit the hot springs and the cute town. We ate outside there at a great little trattoria - pici pasta, which is a thick, hollow spaghetti from the area, some with a sauce of cinghiale (boar) and some with breadcrumbs and anchovies, followed by a mix of grilled cheese and veggies. Very tasty and a beautiful evening. In fact, we have had great weather ths whole time here. It finally got hot again today - must be time to go home!

Yesterday, Dennis and I headed into the center again and walked all over town before heading back out to Emilia's. Then we all went to Montelupo to a great museum about the ceramics from the area. We had some fabulous gelato and checked out the ceramics stores.

Then ot was off to W2's for la festa della carne - the festival of meat. Barbecue Italian style rocks! Wilma spent a good coule of hours in front of the grill cooking chicken, gorgeous steaks, little ribs, two kinds of sausages, little brochettes of lamb, and thick slices of pancetta. We washed it all down with some good wine and their own limoncello and arancello. Yum! Wilma and Wanda are leather workers who have a studio behind their house. They work independently, making purses for Jimmy Choo, Halston and other designers. They showed us some of what they are working on now. It's gorgeous stuff!

We finally got home and went to bed after 2 this morning, but what a great time. After dragging ourselves out of bed and packing la bestia, Dennis and I headed into town again for a couple of hours and visited San Marco to see Fra Angelico's murals in the Dominican friars' cells there. Gorgeous. We wandered to the Oltrarno for lunch at Quattro Leone before heading back to grab our bags an have Rossella drop us at the train station.

Now we're at a hotel near the Venice airport. We'll find a pizzeria for dinner, we think, and then head out early tomorrow morning to fly home. Whew. What a time! Basta already. Wer'll be talking to you all soon live!