Headcold - Curses! Knitting - YIPPEE!
Day 5 - Florence, Italy

It hit late yesterday with avengance...a cold from the chill I'd sustained the
day before unable to warm p-up...but I had with me the Sri Lankan herbal
Ayurvedic remedy called Samahan and I've been taking it like mad! You disolve
one pouch in hot water and drink. Up to 4x a day. (Seems to be working!)

My boss and his family left this morning for home.

I spent the morning doing 4+ hours of work...this involves preparing any files
needed to email, shrinking them as small as possible, moving them to my
wish-it-was-bigger thumb drive...followed by a walk down the block to the
Internet Train where you buy a card for time on one of their computers. My hotel
should be finally installing Wi-Fi by June and it will FINALLY offer internet
access within the hotel (AMEN!) for the first time ever!!

I was ready to email before the I-Train was open, so I ran to the shop where I
bought that yummy outfit the other night, and fetched my VAT paperwork (I'll
take the 10+% back from the VAT tax -- especially with the US$ being so terrible
against the Euro right now!!)

Hmmm...that's done...I-Train still not open... I guess I'll have to... Go Yarn
Shopping!

I BROKE MY YARN DIET!!!

How I thought I'd be able to withstand the magnet that pulls me to Beatrice
Galli's shop located across the street and a few steps down from my hotel, I
have no idea!!! The mere idea that I wouldn't at least have a proper LOOK... Ha
ha ha ha ha! (It's always good when you can make yourself laugh, no?)

A wee look turned into me dashing to my room for my knitting...I fear I'll be
short yarn on the sweater I'm designing and knew she'd have a yarn to suit...

And she did...

Along with 2 other yarns that made me melt...

My Italy budget officially finished...I was consious to keep from buying anymore
as not to dig into my Paris budget!! I still have one more day in Florence...
Darn that awful US$ exchange rate. Can't we all just get along???

While I was there, the front door was more active that usual, which made me happy to see. A very pretty young woman came in and after a few minutes, we were in deep knitting conversation. Tatiana, in her first week of living in Florence (well, Scandicci) by way of Milan, is actually from Spain. Phew! She had found the shop on the internet and I'm glad she did.

We both had errands... I still had time to log at the I-Train, but thought we might meet up later on the Ponte Vecchio for a knitting by the river session.

I spent the following 2hrs at the I-Train. Some work...done. All that would fit onto my thumb drive. I cleared it and will refill this evening. No matter, the NY office seems to be closed for Good Friday. (My boss & I always work G.F. as
the only non-Catholics in the office...but apparently it's an official company holiday! All these years, who knew?)

I wandered to the Ponte Vecchio for a bit of KIP but seemed to have missed
Tatiana. Really too bad...thankfully we had each others email and blogs, so there would
be ways to get back in touch.

I realized that I was STARVING!!! Lunch time!! I wandered down a side street that I've been passing for years but had never wandered down. I happened upon a lovely Trattoria with outdoor seating in the sun! Yeah! Lunch at Buca Poldo was yum. Spaghetti with small bits of steak, a georgous mixed salad and of course, a glass of Chianti (and bottle of water!) My head seemed fairly clear and the sun was shining.

Beautiful.

The flower boxes are in bloom here and the Spring sun reflected such a lovely
color off the buildings.

Time to check out the shops and see what my competition has on offer. ;-)

After a stroll through the department store la Rinascente, I wandered to the roof for a treat and a treat. It's an open-air cafe, umbrella'd, overlooking the Piazza de Republica and some of the Duomo. I just love the terra cotta colored roof tops!

So beautiful!!

Oh The VIEW!!! The other treat -- TREATS!!

First a wonderful hot chocolate with fresh whipped cream (heaven!!) Together with a bowl of fresh yummy strawberries (they are in season here.)

My blackberry beeped...
It was Tatiana!! We decided to meet, we two and her husband, for dinner at 8:30pm. What a great turn of events!! I took them to --- where I'd eaten a few nights before and fun ensued.

We laughed and laughed. I will be back in September and we have a plan for dinner then!

How nice!

Until we'd spoken, Tatiana, being a new knitter. & blogger, had no idea how vast
our knit-blog community was! DO stop by her blog and leave a word of encouragement. She's in her first 3 months knitting and seems to have been bitten by the bug we all have been bitten by!