6:05 p.m. FLORENCE!

We had a nice leisurely morning @ the hotel in Rome; breakfast, packing, checking out. We were on foot to Ottaviano Metro stop by 11:30 or so, skirting St. Peter's where the lines were insane. About 8 blocks' walk w/ our bags thumping along on wheels. Tickets purchased at the Metro station we boarded the next train to Termini. One car the length of the train. Weird. Upon our arrival @ Termini we made our way to the train station proper. I got in line @ the ticket office while Beast tried to figure out the machines. He won and we went to the platform area to wait. Stopped for some pop/water & decided to use the bathroom. It took awhile but I finally found the servizi, paid my €1 and found them to be just fine.  When I got back to Beast, they'd posted our track & we boarded the train (First Class -- yay), maneuvered our way to our seats, and found ourselves by an American couple. So we had a good 2-hour chat with them. The train was great -- we had snacks & drinks available. Now we know, for the trip back to Rome next week. Beast's also more comfortable with the ticket-purchasing so that's good too.

Arrival in Florence was easy; we walked maybe 15 minutes to our hotel which is an old palazzo that's all chopped up with weird corners & hallways, 2 restaurants, & a bar on the roof. The room is small & there is work going on outside our window. Not gonna be sleeping a lot during the day! We unpacked and then headed out for a walk in the area to scope out possible eating places, and for gelato. I had hazelnut, Beast chocolate. We wandered to the Duomo & had a look around there. Also, finally found a shop in which to buy hair gel for me! We noticed some kind of ceremony going on outside the Duomo; seems to be a whole closing thing (?) so we walked around the Baptistery & took pictures of the famous (fake) doors and then watched the actual closing of the Duomo doors & the departure of the costumed ceremonial 'guard.'

Then we started to wander back. Stopped at a bar for a drink & piece of chocolate cake & had a chance to read the Int'l Herald/Trib & see some news for the first time since Tues. Then back to the hotel where I started this & Beast went off to the lobby to do some internet stuff. I'll probably try to grab a quick nap too, then it's off to dinner.

11:55 [p.m.] Yes indeed, a brief nap between the hammering & whatever is being done to the building. That finally knocked off abt. 7 as we headed to dinner; we wandered to the other side of the Duomo where we found a place off the street. Good, very family/local. By the time we finished, it was pretty chilly outside. Beast's (upper) back was sore so we chilled in our room for awhile then decided to give the Panoramic Bar a try. Surprise: it does have a good view of the Duomo! But since it's cool tonight we drank inside ... with a dozen noisy Belgians. Seriously loud boisterous older people (2 of the guys are 60). So last night it was drunk German college students/teens, and tonight it was drunk Belgians. It's a little noisy on the street yet, but hopefully winding down a little. We're on a pedestrian street, so there's no engine noisy.

OK, that's it. I'm tired -- more tomorrow.