I did not receive your e-mail about the flooding until now, because I am only checking my Leeds account regularly while I am travelling. Also, your e-mail has no contents other than “Love Dad,” was there a link? All I find on the BBC and CNN are articles from last week saying there was flooding in the southern Czech Republic and that Prague is bracing for the possibility of floods. Also, I found an article saying bird flu had been found in a swan 93 miles south of Prague (the flooding is 120 miles south of Prage). We’ll keep checking for news on the area over the next week or so and make a decision about whether to skip it as we get closer.
Last night we met up with my friend Renee and a couple of her friends. We all walked up to the Piazella Michelangelo together to view Florence at night. It was beautiful, and we sat, chatting, drinking wine, and enjoying the view for an hour or two before heading back to the hostel to rest our weary legs. Today we didn’t do a lot in terms of sightseeing — for some reason EVERYTHING had incredibly huge lines: the Galleria della Academia (has Michelangelo’s David), the Uffizi, and the Duomo (good thing we went inside yesterday when there was no line). Instead, we went to a big weekly outdoor market in the morning — they had food and lots of cheap clothing. Afterwards we walked along the Arno and found a nice Gelateria on the south side of the river, the side away from the main touristy area of the Duomo and such. We went and stood in line for a little while at the Galleria della Academia before deciding that we’d rather spend two hours seeing more of Florence instead of waiting to see the David, so we went and wandered through the outdoor market stalls outside the Mercato Centrale. Kody and I bought leather (buffalo skin) jackets. It was a rather expensive purchase, but the jackets are terrific, seem very high quality, and, if they live up to our assessment of them, were a great deal. I get nervous about spending a lot of money like this without shopping around a lot, but hopefully I made the right choice. Next we’re headed out to find a gelateria, then probably call it an early night so we can get up on time tomorrow to catch our train to Venice.
Love,
Michael
Tags: Heavy Things, Life