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This was an early friggin morning! Pick up outside the hotel at 4:45am. 4 : 45 in the morning!!!!! Aaargh!! The things I do for the kids. Of course, when asked months ago,"Want to go on a balloon ride? It means getting up early?" they both said sure. This morning they weren't so sure. We took off just outside of the walled city monteriggioni, between Firenza and Sienna. Yes, it was early and a bit chilly and the pilot didn't speak English but it was very cool!! I've done one back in RI but this was better. Something about ballooning over Tuscany that negates inconveniences. We're back at the hotel by 9am and Todd and Chris haven't even left yet.
Paige decides to go back to bed while Ryan & I do Laundry. Needs to be done and we can scope out Gelato places! After Laundry we go through what we now consider our church, Basilica di Santa Croce . Everyone who was famous in Florence is memorialized here. Mike... here. Galileo... here. Fermi... here. Machiavelli... here. Rossini... here. Dante... here. You get the idea? As a Church it's not the prettiest but a a historical monument, a bonanza! In fact, as they driver was bringing us back from the balloon ride to the hotel we went by Fermi's villa. I asked if it was "The" Enrico Fermi and he was impressed that an American even knew who he was when so many Italians didn't. Janine Clookey, I owe you one. One note on the pictures, in the basilica you can take pictures but you can't use a flash. That means time exposure so the quality isn't great but you get the idea... forgive me
We had a relaxing lunch and shopped around the Duomo, took a walk across the Ponte Vechio, just kinda chilled. For dinner tonight, we tried the other recommended place www.ristorantelamaremma.com really good food and even better they had the World Cup Game with Italy on. Imagine The Capitol Grill with a big screen tv on the bar. That's how big this was! We walk back to the hotel and can hear the big screens from across the river. We knew when the Italians scored. I was glad the games ended in a tie while we were there because ties were crazy, I can't imagine wins.
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