What a nice excuse to visit Italy, specifically, Tuscany including the grand Florence...to take Chrissy who has just graduated from Lausanne and her friend from early childhood, Ali, along with Trish, Carl and Ali's mom, Susan....Dennis and I were honored to plan the trip and accompany our family and friends. This would be our very first visit to this historic and lovely part of Italy. Ali and Chrissy will be going off to college this fall, so spending this last summer fun with them would certainly become a blessing. We Left Memphis quite early on Saturday, June 9, connecting in Cincinnati which held for us a very long layover, just to insure we would make a connecting flight out of Cincinnati to Paris. We couldn't upgrade Chrissy, as no seats were available, but all of us were in business class. Food was very nice on our flight, appetizers, dinner, chocolate mousse and breakfast before we landed. I didn't sleep especially well, but watched two movies..so the time didn't pass too slowly. Arriving Paris, we had a two hour wait, went to the WorldClub checked internate e-mails (complimentary), got a diet Coke and returned to the gate to wait with the rest of the group. We all had reservations at Lungarno Suites (Leading Hotels of the World). The cab ride (one car for all 5 of us who arrived together), was $33 EU plus $5 for extra bags. We gave him 40Eu. Our room was a one bedroom, river view which overlooked the Arno River and the Ponte Vecchia Bridge, the last bridge left standing after the German invasion. The General Manager had greeted us with a bottle of wine and a nice note welcoming us. Our room had a complete kitchen and we understood that breakfast was to be brought to us each morning and that the staff would grocery shop for each suite, if we desired. Trish and Ali and Susan had the same accomodation. Carl and Trish upgraded to this accomodation from a studio (too small). Dennis and I took a nap, then we walked to the market, had a gelatto, checked e-mails at a little internet cafe and I stopped at a cell phone shop where two young men helped me get my Cellular phone activated so I could use it for international calls. This was supposed to have been done prior to my leaving the states by Cellular One, but, it wasn't. Customer service was 001 916 843 4685. I pre-arranged with Ballagio, our Virtuoso "on-site" in Florence for a guide for 2 half days and one full day so that we could spend our time wisely and efficiently. So, we had a note from our guide that she would come for us the morning after we arrived. We took a nap and went with Carl, Trish, and Chrissy to Parione at 8 PM, located not far from our hotel at Via del Parione 74/76r Via Della Vigna Nuova,l7 50123 Frieze tel 005 214005. www.parione.com A $3 service charge plus l0% gratuitty is added to the bill here. Nice food. Green Salad, bottled water, gnocce with sea bass and shrimps in a great sauce. Salmon wrapped asparagus as appetizers was very good with little cherry tomatoes. Very fresh. Walking to the restaurant, we passed Il Papiro, a lovely paper shop I will visit another time. 6/12/06 First full day in Florence. Our guide came for us, Mrs. Fredericka 339 1204 876. She was a gracious guide, English a little halting, but certainly acceptable...We just had to listen well. We toured Santa Croce (The Church of the Cross) where the tombs of Michaelangelo, Leonardo Bruni, Aalileo and Machiavelli were laid to rest. We visited a lovely leather school and facotry and I bought a small bright green travel purse and Trish and Chrissy came away with lovely bags to be shipped to the USA. We also visited a Moasic factoryt and purchased an "unfinished" Tuscany scene. Trish and Carl purchased a "fish mosaic" for their new yacht. We had lunch at Finisterrae 33.50 EU. Dennis and I walked through Piazza Della Signoria and saw Giambologna's State "Rape of the Sabines", Michaelangelo's David (replica in the square), Bandinelli's "hercules and Cacus" and Donatello's statue "Marzocca, the Lion." Tuesday 6/13/06 We had a nice breakfast delivered to our rooms, lovely breads, fruit, cereal, yogurt and water. I went shopping with the girls, and Dennis and Carl visited to Duomo built in 1296 and finished in 1436. The dome is 463 steps high. Frescos show the Last Judgement. The tower was completed in 1359. It is covered in white, green and rose Tuscan marble. Carl and Dennis went back to the leather school and I went there thinking I would find them there. I had gotten separated from the girls when we visited the Farmacia and I left my travellogue there, so had to return to get it. It was there and they had saved it for me. Carl, Dennis and I had lunch at Rist. Osteria Del Passi for Eu 35.50. We had arranged to meet Trish, Chrissy, Susan and Ali at the Museo del Bargello. We tourned this less known but wonderful museum and saw Bacchus by Michaelangelo, David by Donatello and other works by Giambologna, Verrocchio and Robbia. Dennis and I returned to the hotel for a rest. Trish and Carl invited us up to the 6th floor to their balcony for a nice view of the Arno, then dinner at Oliviero. We had steak potatoes, salad and a bottle of water for EU 44. Gelato again on the street for Eu 6.00 Wednesday, 6/14/06, Frederica and Jay, our driver, drove us up the hillside to Basilica di San Miniat al Monte (A franciscan frier church). We visited the Galleria dell "Accademia and the Church Duomo and visited the Golden Gates. I went shopping for glass beads (murano glass) and we bought a little Murano glass blue birds and flowers. Then then visited the Uffizi and toured the Galleria to see David and had lunch at the museum (tomato and mozarella sandwiches). Stopped for a gellato on the way back to the hotel. We watched soccer and rested. President Bush had just returned from a secret trip to Bagdad, where he had met with the new Prime Minister and his cabinet. For dinner, we took a 20Eu cab ride up the mountain to Trattoria Omero. Steak and Pasta $50 Eu and tip $20 Eu. The boys rode back with a visitor from Boston who offered to share his cab with them. The girls went back alone as the cabs wouldn't hold all of us at once. Thursday 6/15/06 After breakfast in our room, we mat our guide, Frederica and we walked across the famous Ponte Vecchia Bridge, stopping at the Santa Felicita Church which had unussually bright colored frescos. We continued to the Palace of the Medici, called the Palazzo Pitti, where we walked the fantastic gardens called the Giardino di Bololi (Boboli Gardens). We then tourned the Palace Pitti which many, many paintings, statues and ornately decorated ceilings and walls. We saw the original Madonna del Suggio (mother of Jesus with baby in chair) by Rafael. When leaving the Place, Dennis purchased a small statue of David for 4 EU. Patty purchased beautiful stationery from the gift shop. We stopped at the Golden View for lunch and had fresh pizza, salad, bread and vinegar and oil. We shopped for etched gold bands, as Patty needed to replace her existing mounting for her wedding ring. We did find THE ring at Ponte Vecchia Diamonds, Gold Shop , Ponte Vecchio, 35/R, Firenze, Italy PH 055 215650. Price 700 EU. We returned for a nap to our hotel. Chrissy, Ali and Susan took the train to Pisa to see the leaning tower. After our rest, we returned to the Golden View Restaurant for dinner. I had salad and Ravioli and Dennis had breast of chicken with truffle sauce. Dinner was EU55. We will be checking out tomorrow, so we returned to our hotel to pack....All along our walks, designer knock-offs are being peddled by street vendors who quickly fold up their wares and move on, when the police arrive. It is strictly against the law to sell or purchase these items. Prade and Chanel bags for l5Eu are common (not authentic, of course). Friday, June 16, 2006. Our driver came for us at our hotel and all 7 of us traveled by VW bus. Our first stop was the mountain walled fortress city of San Gimignano. Dennis purchased two metal knights in armour for 12EU each. WE walked around the village, looked in the little shops and galleries and moved on to Montepulciano. We stopped for lunch at Ristorante El Pozzo for lamb and fish and salad. Our guide had pre-arranged a winery visit Azienda Agricola - Poliziano. There were cherries in the field we ate off the tree and we saw the winery operation. The driver then took me and Dennis to Il Falconiere (Relais and Chateaux property) outside Cortona where we would stay for 3 nights before returning to Florence for our last night and flight to Memphis. We had reserved a suite on the hillside, so we had a 4 room cottage with gorgeous tile floors, tile and beam ceilings, antique furniture and two large bathrooms. Our friends dropped us off and didn't get to see our place because it was getting late and they had a long drive back to Florence. They will leave tomorrow morning for Venice. We wanted to be in the countryside. We had dinner on the property overlooking the beautiful valley and the dining was on the outdoor patio. It was cool and starry with a lovely view. We had spaghetti and salad and shared those. They brought us a complimentary appetizer from the chef (indiscernable content), and a complimentary platter of delicious tiny desserts including fruit custard, creme brulee, chocolate mousee, cookies, etc. They were excellent. I had pre-arranged a local car rental for 9 am tomorrow morning. So we were tired from our full day of touring and went to bed right after supper. Saturday 6/17/06 Well, it seems there was a mis-communication about our car, as the company didn't have one to bring us, so they offered to send a car for us to take us to Cortona, then to pick us up after our visit there and bring us back to Il Falconneire. That was fine with us as it is sometimes difficult to find parking in the smaller towns and villages. The car company said they didn't have a record of our reservation, only an inquiry...I produced a confirmation from them and they apologized for the mix-up. We visited Cortona, shopped the little shops, took many pictures and bought some reading glasses in the market for 2.50EU. I bought some nice stone beads and we visited a small cafe for lunch where we met a school teacher who stays with nuns in Cortona for 6 months each year. She had lots of information to share and questions to ask about her future plans for travel. We called for the car to come get us and return us to Il Falconneire. We had fruit for dinner and rested well. I have received several phone calls from friends/clients from the US and they were surprised to hear us answer from Italy...Amazing to me, too. Sunday, 6/18/06 We had breakfast at Falconeire in a little area with individual tables on the patio for a beautiful breakfast buffet. We went there everymorning and read an American newspaper and took our time just enjoying the beautiful property and the views from the patio. We drove our rental car for the first time today to Passignano where we saw a Festival with Carpets of Flowers covering the Old Town streets and we saw a church processional and service in the center plaze of the town. We strolled the fleamarket along the waterfront and we took a ferry out to the Isle of Maggiore on Lake Trasimeno. We had lunch there at a small pizzeria, then returned on the ferry. We drove around the entire lake on our way back to Il Falconneire. We had a formal dinner here for our last night. Monday, 6/19/06 We had breakfast at our little spot and met Senator Reagle from Washington, DC. He was a friendly fellow who is now in business, not the senate, but he says he still thinks like a senator, of course, and told us it is not a happy time to be in WAshington, DC in govt. service. The war has colored everything. We tourned Arezzo today because we weren't to leave Cortona with our transfer agent until 5 PM. We parked, walked the ancient city and had lunch at the Grand Piazza. Mozarella and tomatoes and spaghetti with meatsauce and chicken and fried potatoes are always a good bet. We returned to Il Falconneire and waited on the patio for our transfer. Massimo Caroti www.autonoleggioilgirasole.it was our agent. Il Falconniere Suite was 560 EU per night. 370 52044 Cortona. Dennis and I had our international driver's licences issued at AAA for us in Memphis. Our transfer agent took us to Hotel Silla for our last night in Florence. It wasn't a very nice place and I wouldn't recommend it, but we got up at 5 am to go to the airport. Serendipity..We met Camille from Tampa who is a patient of Nick Fallieras, our dear friend we have known since 1967, who was in med school in Memphis. We are still in touch with the Fallierases...We met Emory Schwall and his grandson in Paris waiting for our plane. He is an Atlanta attorney and knew of my brother, John, with J Bulow Campbell Foundation. We met Pam Holmes, who knows Sister and Heber Simmons, our friends in Jackson, MS, and she loaned me Julia Child's Biography, My Years in France, which I completed on the way home to Memphis...Flight from Paris..5 hours on the tarmack trying to fix a fuel pump. Couldn't be fixed, so they flew us to Bangor, Maine, for refueling on the way to Atlanta. On the way to Atlanta, our plane was truck by lightning. Scarey, but no harm. It took us l7 hours to get from Paris to Atlanta. Of course, we missed our connection, stayed overnight at the Crowne Plaze (not very nice) at the airport, then couldn't get a flight out until the next afternoon. Oh, well, armour is needed for flying in today's travel climate, but even the armour wears thin after l7 hours. I feel like I know Florence now and will be able to help others find great experiences there. We are happy to be home, as always, and grateful to be safe and sound...