Yesterday morning I woke early to the sound of construction. Not so unusual around here. They had backed a truck down Via Grilli to take out debris from a house being renovated. Sounds pretty ho hum but look at how tight the space was!

We had planned a day trip or gite fuori la porta in Italian which means a short trip outside the gates, to Florence to visit our friends Ron and Linda. We met them around 5 years ago before they moved from Virginia to Florence. They are very happy there and we planned to meet them for lunch. We had not yet used the train to go so we drove to Terontola to the train station and took the 9:30AM train which arrived at just before 11AM. Nice trip. We met Ron and Linda and had a bottle of Prosecco in a lovely piazza at an outside table in a glass enclosed area. The weather was spectacular, in the mid 60s F and bright sun. Here is the Duomo under renovation in anticipation of a papal visit later this year.

I had asked Linda to take us somewhere where I could buy ingredients (foreign) that I can’t get in Umbria. I have forgotten the store name but will get it from her. I got lots of things I couldn’t have gotten to include Thai and mexican things. Here is a picture of my haul.

We had lunch at one of their favorites Trattoria Porcospino (porcupine). We could sit outside. The proprietor knows Ron and Linda and is a big USA booster but a little strange in an OK kind of way. The food was good and so was the company.

We walked to Ron and Linda’s apartment. On the way at an outside vendor along the leather market I spotted a nice leather tote bag. I had been wanting to get one and lamented that I had not sent any over with our stuff. This was much more fun. I bargained and am happy with my purchase. It is periwinkle blue and reversible so it can be a pale beige. Nice soft leather and it included a blue purse. Here it is!

When we went to our Italian lesson this morning my teacher remarked it was a color for spring. So OK with me. Bring it on! Our lesson was good (I guess). It is sometimes frustrating but I am trying. We have moved from 9AM to 10-12AM on Thursdays. Much more civilized hour and when we are done we can lunch. We went just over the Tuscan border to La Pieve Vecchia in Monterchi. Pretty old building with a lunch menu for 12 Euro to include 4 courses. And they were really good! We decided to become regulars and go after all of our classes…for the next 20 weeks!