Where's Ken......Lost in Firenze!!!!

While Sally was having a cappuccino, I was attempting to return the rental car. Carla, the sweet receptionist and owner, said it was easy to find. No problem. Right! I had an hour to return the car before they closed; it was within 2 miles. My big mistake was using the GPS. It didn't know that some of the streets were closed for the market today! I ended up driving down a loooooong street that was closed to cars and was only open for pedestrian traffic. I about died. There was no way out! Finally, I saw the Carbenieri( the state police,) and I looked very sad and desperate. The young woman asked how she could help. She drew on the map that Carla gave me, and I was able to weave through the pedestrians. As I was patiently weaving, one American said that I should be tortured. She didn't realize it, but I had been and was being tortured for about 30 minutes. After being flashed by the lights of taxis for going down the wrong street, I recognized the street from our walk last Monday to get the car. One more u-turn and a couple of nasty looks from some more taxi cab drivers......and there it was Auto Europe! I had made it with 10 minutes to spare!

After my 15 minute walk back where I could go down any street I pleased, Sally and I went to the San Lorenzo Market to see if Sally could find her Renzo. He was the man who told her that he could make a coat for a woman with "leetle shoulders and beeg heeps." Renzo was gone! Poor Sally! Renzo had moved to San Diego two years ago. No problem, Alex could take care of her. After some excited conversation with the tailor, Alex assured her that the coat that she had chosen would fit and be mailed home within the next month. Happy birthday Sally! I decided to see if we could get a better deal if we bought two since I didn't want to be left out. No problem! No arguenments with the tailor for me. They will be making our coats and will mail them. What a treat and great experience. Touring Firenze (Florence)tomorrow. Later....Ken

Later this evening, 9:15Pm

Just got back from dinner at Za Za. This is the earliest evening that we have had in weeks. We had a great dinner outside and the weather is really warm. We started with their sample antipasto platter which had everything from sausage to an omlette with truffle sauce on it. Ken had Pappardelle, which was is a pasta with a tomato sauce and wild boar (not to be out done by Sally's duck sauce), and Sally had Fettuccine with porcini mushrooms. We were going to have the waiter take our picture, but the food looked so good we took a picture of it instead! Dessert for Ken was Limoncello while Sally had a Tirimisu that was more like a pudding. A great first dinner in Florence. Ciao.....Ken and Sally