Florence

We arrived in Florence with enough time to check into our hotel, meet our friends Dave & Liz, and get to L'Accademia in time for our reservation ... our date with David! David in the flesh (stone), the REAL David, is worth the visit. After, we walked around, bought scarves (of course) and saw the 'other' David in the Piazza della Signoria, outside the Uffizi. We did not go into the Uffizi this time since we'd been in during our previous visit to Florence (2006).

In the Piazza della Signoria with Dave & Liz, Neptune and David. A view of the Arno flowing under the Ponte Vecchio.

Don & I overlooking the Arno. The four of us at ZaZas!  ZAZA!
The Market is in the background.

The next day we met Dave & Liz again and attacked the leather market. Mmm, does it ever smell nice! We bought a couple of handbags, more scarves, and belts. It was so interesting. Then we gathering our bags from our hotels and took a cab to the car rental agency. We got there about an hour earlier than planned, thinking we'd save time with paperwork before the others arrived to rent the second car. Fortunately we did because the attendant was about to close ... close a car rental agency at noon on a Saturday!!! We were just in the nick of time. Otherwise we would have had quite a different and unpleasant afternoon.

So we rented two cars and waited for Nancy, Mac & Sue who were arriving by train from Vernazza. We passed the time outside the car rental place, sitting on a park bench enjoying goodies from Liz - assorted Italian meats, cheeses and chianti. As soon as the others joined us we set off for a week at our Tuscan villa!