Hello, Sunshine! Hello, Bidet!

The Sun Makes An Appearance!

Good news from across the pond! The sun finally came out in Italy! And rumor has it that it's going to stick around for a while. The timing of this beautiful weather couldn't be better! Tomorrow morning we are heading for Venice on the high speed Freccia Rossa. Florence has been great, but we're ready to move on.

And, er, it appears that we'll actually have to wait an extra hour because daylight savings time ends in Europe tonight. An extra hour in Italy? What amazing luck!

So, in the meantime, let's see if I can update you on our latest and greatest Italian adventures. First and foremost (before the majority of the readers get bored with my stories) let me share some super exciting news.

Today I learned how to properly use a bidet!

I say “properly” because last year I accidentally peed in the bidet in Venice. When you're in a different hotel every other night, you tend to forget where the toilet is hiding when you're wandering around in the dark in the middle of the night. In Venice, I made my way through the darkness, felt porcelain, sat on the edge and, well...tinkled. Turns out there isn't a flusher thingy when it comes to the bidet, which was why I couldn't find it in the middle of the night.

Common mistake. Stop laughing.

Anyhoo, back to today's bathroom adventure. Oh! Just to put everyone's mind at ease (thanks to the free internet here at the hotel) I was able to google “how to use a bidet”. Go ahead and try it if you like. There are even videos.

Not really a big deal. Can't say that I am moved to have one installed at home, but it's good to know that the Italians are such clean-freaks when it comes to their bums.

And now on to our next order of business - a culinary update. More good news - Karen's quest for spaghetti has been fulfilled! We found a restaurant last night that offered plain ol' spaghetti and tomato sauce. No anchovies. No clams. No truffles. Just spaghetti. Karen went to bed a happy girl. Of course, she still has jet lag, so she didn't fall asleep. But while she was lying there listening to me snore, she was a happy camper.

And now onto today's happenings. We did a little more exploring across the river, as far away from the crowds of tour groups as we could possibly go. That was a nice break, although Karen was running on fumes and needed a mid-day break. Which she took.

Too Much of a Good Thing

Later in the afternoon we went over to Piazza di Willy Winky for a beer. Historians apparently call this place Piazza della Signoria, but it has a lot of statues with really oddly-shaped male body parts, so we decided to rename it.

Oh, Neptune. Seriously?

After our beer break, we walked about 20 miles till we could find just the right sticker for Karen's new Vespa. Okay, she doesn't own it yet. But she now has the sticker ready for when she does make the purchase. Then, on the way to dinner we stopped along the river and watched an impromptu cricket match down on the bank of the Arno. That was strange, but really entertaining.

Impromptu Cricket Match Along the Arno River

Anyhoo, as you can see – bidet adventure aside – we have done nothing of cultural significance here in Florence. No, we did not go to the Accademia or the Uffizi. We saw neither David nor Dante. But we did have a fantastic time and would love to come back to Florence someday. Especially now that we know how to use a bidet.

But first, on to Venezia!