Bruno in Florence

It's been one month since we got back from Florence--not too late to post pictures, right?

Here's Brooks at the Philadelphia International airport, all set for his first overnight flight. The pajamas were cute, but ultimately wishful thinking...Brooks woke up around 3 a.m. (or was it 9 a.m?) and wanted entertainment for the rest of the flight. Between Zoezoe's walks around the cabin with Brooks and the movie The Tourist, we managed to avoid a total baby meltdown.

And here we are in Florence on day one. Nobody knows what time it is in this picture! But you can see the Duomo in the background.

There were a lot of street artists near our hotel.

And here is a picture of my fiction workshop at the Villa Rossa, the place we held class every day. Wonderful people, great ideas, lots of cucumber sandwiches.

It was a small class this year, but that meant we got a lot more attention than we would otherwise. We worked with a wonderful author, Jill McCormick, who was worth the trip herself.

Mom and I made a priority of revisiting Vivoli's, home of the best Florentine gelato, the tourist books say. Mom loved the place as much as Oliver did last year. (Muchissimo!)

Brooks got excited about this wooden car in a toy shop.

This one was a little harder to figure out.

Here we are by San Miniato al Monte--a monastery at the top of a HUGE hill with no handicap ramp. It got even more complicated in the rain...but here we are, and what a view! The singing in the monastery was beautiful, too.

We tried giving Brooks baths in a few different places, but the bidet idea never worked as well as we hoped it would...

Mom, Brooks, and I hired a driver to take us around the Tuscan countryside. He convinced us to go to Montecatini Alto--a little town we had never heard of--and to ride a tram up to the very top of the place. It was a great idea. Here we are at the top of the hill.

Here's another view.

Have you ever wondered what a millionaire would eat for lunch in a place like this? Wonder no more. That's "antipasto millionaire" in the foreground--fried dough, cheese and carpaccio. My theory is that some Red Sox fan came here and made everyone think he was a big deal. He demanded fried dough to remind him of home, and just like that, antipasto "millionaire" was born.

After Montecatini Alto, we zipped over to Pisa to take a quick peek at the tower. When you're under the slanted part, you start to wonder how strong the external supports really are...pretty exhilarating!

After Pisa, we headed to a town called San Gimignano. Gorgeous! It has to be one of the most beautiful places I've seen.

Here's the entrance to the city. There were so many great shops in the little path you see--it took us about two hours to walk 100 meters.

Brooks was fantastic on the trip.

But somebody from church told us that his name translated to "Bruno" in Italian. For the rest of the trip, that's what we called him. Here's our little Bruno at church, in the arms of a very baby-hungry Italian woman. She just sort of walked him around for ten minutes after Sacrament Meeting. Not sure how he felt about that...

After church, Mom, Brooks, and I took a walk around the Pitti Palace. This place is universally ballyhooed for its boring architecture, but the Boboli gardens behind it are stunning. We went to an art exhibit and a fashion exhibit to the great outdoors.

And that's it! Thank you Zoezoe for making this possible and for helping me to actually see the touristy stuff this time! You did a wonderful job with Brooks. And thank you to Oma and Opa for bravely watching the older (tougher) two boys in Massachusetts. We owe you big time!