It's been a great trip. I'm off to the airport now. See you all soon :)

In the plane on the way to Nashville, and my final shot in Paris right before I left for the airport.

Friday

I know that you all are probably sick of hearing that it was a beautiful day and I had a wonderful time, but it's true again.

I spent all day with my beautiful friend, No. She got to the hotel at 8am and we had a little breakfast and a walk through the 'old section' of town, where I got to see a castle and cross a draw bridge over a moat! It was surreal. Then we had tapas for lunch. Walked, saw more amazing sights, shopped, drank beer, walked, ate delicious crepes for dinner...

Now I am sitting at the same little bar as last night having a very decent red wine, fretting about Oscar and my trip ending...dreading the thought of going back to work!!!

I am in Angers today to visit my friend, Noemie. I have 'known' her for better than a year now through jpgmag.com. I was so happy to meet her today. I went by bus, plane, and train to get here today. It took from 8am-6:30pm, and it was totally worth the trip. She is such a lovely person. She met me at the train station and took me to my hotel that she booked for me. It's a pub on the bottom floor and a hotel upstairs. I am up about three narrow spiral flights. I have a lavender room that can only be described as quaint. Then after I cleaned up, she took me out to my first traditional French restaurant. It was truly delicious! I had some fis with vegetables in this rich sauce a simple salad. It was perfect. I tried most of the evening to find Internet, without success. Mainly because I am worried about Oscar. I finally found a small bar after No went home that has it. Oscar is a little better. But, no pictures tonight since I'm using my cell phone..sorry. Maybe tomorrow.

Wednesday

More photos of Florence. It was another beautiful day here. I spent the afternoon with my wonderful host, Pasquale. He is an amazing photographer and a kind and generous person. He showed me areas of the city that were off the beaten path. It was a fun afternoon, but when I got back to the hotel I learned that Oscar is very sick, so now I am waiting for news.

Martedì

                                                
                                I love this place! I wonder if there are any MRI jobs available.

The video is of the check in girl at my hotel, who just walked over to the piano this afternoon and did this....

 

Monday (Oh NOOOO! It's half over)

Another beautiful day has come and gone. I spent most of it traveling.
First to Pisa, where I strolled all over the quaint cobbled streets,
visited the tower, had a slice of amazing pizza and then
hopped a train to Florence. 


When I got here, my host informed me
that he suddenly got called away for business for the next two days,
and his wife and daughter were still on the coast, so he set me up in a
wonderful little hotel.


I just returned from dinner and am going to
call it a day. 


P.S The weather
here is warm and sunny, and I just had the best pasta that I've ever had in
my life!

Ciao ;-)

Sunday

 I fretted all night last night about my luggage. I have one huge one that I am not able to take to Italy with me. So, after much ado this morning, searching for lockers at the airport and train stations that would keep them for 6 days, it turned out that the hotel that I am going to stay in for my last two days of the trip, in down town Paris, agreed to hold it for me all week. They just asked that I bring it late in the afternoon. That said...I spent the first half of my day just resting and packing. Once I lugged that ridiculously heavy bag to the hotel, I had a few hours to just rome around. I was quite surprised that most of the businesses were closed today. It makes sense since it's Sunday, but still it caught me off guard. Since I am finally starting to know the lay of the land, I decided to go to the area around the Louvre. I guessed (correctly) that there would be cafe's  open there. Here are just a few photos that I took while I was out today.

I can't wait to go to Italy tomorrow!!!