Florence Part II

Today we had a lovely day in Florence. We started by attempting to have breakfast at the Boboli Gardens. We packed up a great picnic of goodies Jeremy bought yesterday at a grocery store. We had meats, cheeses, rolls, fruit...all for under ten euros. Not a bad way to save money. We checked out of our hotel, stashed our luggage at the front desk, and hoofed it all the way to the palace where the garden is...just to find a big sign saying that no food could be brought in. This would not have annoyed us so much except that this picnic was reccomended in our guidebook. Our guidebook is smoking crack. (Later we shall post an entry with that title, listing the crack smoking ways of our guidebook. Although it did have some great advice and other things.) So instead we ate on a concrete slad right beside the palace, while pigeons clammored around us for crumbs. We then went to pick some ice cream, since it is our last day in Italy. We also went to the Accedemia to check out David and other art. We had reservations, but it was still stressful. We had to stand in this huge line, and when the surley guy came out to shout our time, we had to shove our way to the front of the line and pretty much demand entry. After this we had to go through security, where Cathy accidently stole some guy's glasses, thinking they were Kirk's. (Do not worry, he got them back.) It was neat seeing David, but the crowds were overwhelming, and we are here in the off season! What does it look like in the summer?

We zipped over to pick up or clean laundry, ate lunch, and are now awaiting our train. We are taking another night train to Switzerland, and then will be on a train to Frankfort tomorrow morning. We will spend the day in Frankfort, Germany on Friday and be on the plane Saturday morning. Hard to believe that it is nearly over!