Hey,

So, day two, Ange and i first wandered the city, crossed the Ponte Vecchio (one of the few bridges across the Arno river that survived the war), and did a bit of shopping - all before lunch. Bought a really great italian leather purse and wallet.

This is the bridge that i mentioned. Kinda different as it does have buildings hanging off it.

That afternoon we explored the Uffizi Gallery - fantastic!!! Here is Ange and i outside the gallery with Donatello.

The Uffizi is the home of: Leonardo da Vinci's "The Annunciation"

Botticelli's "Spring"

and most famous of all Botticelli's "Birth of Venus"

They were all very impressive, and these pictures do not do them justice. The gallery had so many great pieces. I just loved it.

After that we went to the Piazzia della Signoria to see the fountain, and enjoyed an espresso (my first and it was not to bad at all).

Of course you can't go to Florence without spending time with "the man" - Michelangelo's "David" - it is at the Academic Gallery. It is really cool - and huge, i mean HUGE!!! I kinda took a picture and you're not really allowed to - the lady yelled at me! Oh well got to do what you have got to do!!!!

Now of course we could not forget that this was Valentines Day, so Ange and i went out for a nice Italian Dinner, drank some red wine, and looked around us at all the couples. All we needed was two cute italian men (and Florence seems to be full of them!) to finish the night off. Too bad they were all out with their girlfriends! Oh well, the wine was good!

Next day we did some shopping in the markets (bought two italian silk scarfs, and two cool leather bracelets). Went to the Pitti Palace - the Medici Palace. It was really ornate (to say the least). Then off a hiking we go. Found this

This was a great day. We hiked up out of the city, found some old streets and basically wandered around. We got a great view of the city.

To end this great holiday in Italy i went to mass at the Sanata Maria Novella Chapel. It was in Italian and really quite beautful.

We caught the bus later that night (10:30 pm) back to the Pisa Airport. We arrived at the airport at 1:00 am - acually 5 minutes past. I know this because the airport closes its doors at one in the morning. So we had to sit outside in the cold (it dropped in the temp - we could see our breath) for THREE hours!!! Thank you Salina for the flanal PJ's becasue i think that they saved me from getting a very nasty cold. I wraped my body in them - i did not bring any real winter clothes to Italy as i was not anticipating having to sit outside in the cold. Finally got inside at 4:00 am. When we entred we saw all the people sleeping in te chairs - they were smarters as they arrived before one in the morning so they got to stay INSIDE!!!

Anyway, caught the flight back to London (and the rain). Got back to Birmingham at 2:00pm. I must say i was kinda tired as i had been up for 34 hours. Crashed last night. Had a great time and would recommend Florence to everyone.

Hope all is well, miss and love ya all,

M.

Hello All!!!

So in the last post i mentioned that i was taking off to Florence, Italy for a few days. What a fantastic city!!!

Our flight was rather early (6:30 am - Tuesday morning) so Ange and I took the train up to London on Monday. We met up with Hollie (mentioned her before - Emily's old roomate) and we went to a taping of...oddly enough The Hour (yes the Canadian show) which was taping in London because George S. was also covering the BritAwards. It was rather interesting. Had a chance to catch up on the news back home (when did Toronto get a Football team? - and by that i mean a soccer team)

The show aired on Wed. Feb. 14th so if you caught that show you would have seen me in the croud. The guests were Kelly Osbourne (did not get to see her because her interview was taped the day after) and the CNN reporter Christiane Amampour - she was really interesting and a very smart woman.

Here is a photo of Hollie and one of her friend that we went with:

So after that we caught the train out toward the airport - had 4 hours sleep and then caught out our flight arriving in Pisa, Italy at 9:00 am. We caught a bus to Florence and checked into our hotel by 10:30 so we still had plenty of time to explore!

First we went to the Sante Maria Novella (Church, Museum and Cloiser). They had some of the most beautiful wall and ceiling fescos that i have ever seen. Check it out:

In the museum we got to see lots of religious relics - that would be bits of sones from dead saints - kina odd especially as they are normally displayed in these extrodinarily ornate gold and silver display thingy's.

Next off to Piazza Santa Duomo where the famous Santa Maria del Foire Cathedral is. Yes it is huge and Ange and i climbed all 500 steps (thats 10 flights) to reach the top!!! It was so worth it check out the view.

Also went to to see the Baptistery of San Giovanni - which is where some rather famous Florinties have been iniciated into the Catholic faith. That would include Dante. It is octagonal in shape, which symbolizes the "eighth day" the time of the Risen Christ and the Christian belief of the resurrection after death. Sorry for all that techniqual stuff, but i thought it rather interesting myself. This building was constructed in the 11th centry, built with marble. In the 14th and 16th centries the three brass doors and the mosaic ceiling were added. The three doors (kinda famous ans very beautiful) depict events from the Old Testement (Michelangelo called this set of doors the Gates of Paradise), the life of Jesus, and the life of John the Baptist.

So at the end of day one we were a bit tuckered out to say the least. Hope all is well. Will finish Florence in next blog. TTYL, M.

Hello All,

So, it has been a while. Not much is new really. If you have been listening to the news you may have heard that we have had some snow...yes i said SNOW!!! Thursday we had a snow day where all schools in Birmingham were closed. There was less than 3 inches. To be fair, it did snow all day Thursday and Friday. As of last night (Friday) we had about 5 inches. It looks fantastic - so ... clean.

It was fun introducing the Aussies to this new experience (they have never seen snow before). We went to the park, made snow angels, snow balls, rolled very large snow balls to make a very large snowman, and basically had a good time. Both Jac and Ange had fun i think.

Here are a few pictures of what my street looked like. These were taken on Thursday so there is not much in the way of snow that this point.

Here is Aussie Jac experiencing her first real snow. She fell flat on her ass!!!

Here is Rachel, (Can) and Dan (New Zealand and one of my Flatmates) in the park.


On Monday i am heading to London for the night - hopfully we are able to get tickets for The Hour with Goerge Stropolopogus (sp?) which is filming an episode in London. Have not hear yet if there are any leftover tickets - so here is hoping.

Tuesday morning bright and early (6:30 am) Ange and i are catching a flight to Florence Italy for a few days (back on Friday). We just booked it yesterday as a last minute trip. Super cheap deal so we just could not pass it by. Should be fun!!!

This weekend in Good'ol Gan the Tedford's Annual Classic (Hockey Tourny) is going on. Just talking to Molly and her first Game was a 8:30 am. Hopefully everyone has a great time.

Not much else is new...looking forward to the family coming over for the April break.

Got to Run

Hope all is well...Miss and Love,
M.