Florence!!

Buona Serra! Well, it is 12:30am and I am still up. Not quite adjusted to the time-change. I think I need another week, or month or just say a year or two to fully get accustomed to it, so you will all have to come visit me here in Lucca! :-) We debated about driving today but then decided to take an early train into Florence, where we spent the day in awe of the architecture, art and number of tourists in the city. We barely scratched the surface of what this city has to offer,so I made the girls promise they would come back. We did and saw what we could in a day, interspersed with shopping breaks, coffee breaks, a lovely lunch and a few wrong turns - if there is ever such a thing in this city. Highlights were the lavishly decorated ceiling in a corridor in the Uffizi, the Academia Galleria, David, and the architecture of the city, and the ornate 1612 Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella where we got some herbal pills that help with digestion in the stomach, which may or may not be from the 17th century themselves! We took a local train which stopped every 6th second (okay, well maybe not-so-often, but close) back home and then bee-lined it to the restaurant in Lucca Rebecca researched during the train ride - the most delicious so far - and the ABSOLUTE BEST PIZZA I EVER ATE IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD REALLY W/O A DOUBT - and then headed home to sleep a few before we exercise on the wall and start our last day in the area. So many choices...another day in Florence cuz we didn't do it justice? Our driving trip through the Chianti Region and/or to San Gimignano? After much talk we decided that the longer driving trips were for us adults - esp. since Bex gets car sick - and we would save them for a grown-up visit, and instead chose to visit the Villa Torrigiani just outside of Lucca and the Pallazo Pfanner w/in the walls of old Lucca, grab a bite, do some leisurely last-minute shopping, and maybe meet some friends of friends for some part of the day before we head to Roma domani. Hate to leave but have to say goodbye for more adventures to unfold. Arrivederci for now!