One third of the year is behind me!  Can’t believe how fast it has flown by.  Today is Labor Day in Italy, so lots of stores are closed.  

Wednesday night we went to hear La Traviata.  It was in a beautiful Gothic Anglican Church.  The opera was beautifully done.  We had a wonderful lady cab driver to take us to the church and we asked her to take us on a tour of the city the next day.  Her English was excellent.  I had gone to the Mexican restaurant earlier and then to Quilting group.  Started feeling bad with a headache so I left early.  When it was time to go on the cab ride, I was sick in bed…with a kidney infection….again.  I took a pill given to me by my kidney doctor before I left.  Fever broke in the night,  today, I feel fine.  We went to Termini this morning and caught the fast train to Florence.  When we got to our hotel, we reserved some tours for tomorrow.  Andy went walking, and her friend Suzanne and I went to a school to drop off some brochures she brought for them.  Then we shopped a bit and stopped in a place for a bite to eat.  Then we went to Santa Maria Novella Pharmacy.  It is one of the oldest pharmacies in the world.  Begun in 1221 by Dominican monks.  The pharmacy was opened to the public in 1612.  The building is absolutely beautiful and in the back, opens to the gardens where the monks used to grow the herbs for their pharmaceuticals.  It has expanded since Evan and I were here a few years ago.  Now there is a lovely tea room.  We had cappuccino and a piece of almond cake.  And there is a room where the walls are covered with beautiful, bright frescoes that look like they were painted yesterday.  Something I had never seen before – the paintings of Christ and the disciples…all had gold halos, but Judas had a black halo.  Came back to the hotel to rest up before dinner.  We have dinner reservations where there is supposed to be great Florentine steaks.  Will report.

Must watch the news…evidently there are riots in Milan at the Expo.  It ain’t just Baltimore…