OUCH!

I woke up at Noon today, after leaving Claudio in the dust at 3:30am to get back to my hotel – I told you I don’t like champagne!  I chugged down water while eating an apple, some bread, and my new favorite….squeezey tube of pate before I trekked my hungover butt to Pizzale Michelangelo (which is at least 5 miles from my hotel and uphill…both ways).  It is a giant plaza with spectacular panoramic views of the city.  There was welcoming nice breeze when I made it to the top to help cool off this sweating mofo!.  Do you know why they place a Cross at the bottom of this hill?  So that you can pray to God you make it up it.  I am grateful that I have experience hiking having lived in Colorado, or I would have been like the other old farts huffing and puffing their way to the top while repeating over and over to their friends, “Holy Shit….this hill!”

    

I stopped to pray at that Cross, too.  I prayed to tiny, little 8-pound, 4-ounce baby Jesus that my knees hang in there for two more months of this s**t, unlike this poor bastard…..

I ducked into one of the few free churches in Florence – San Miniato al Monte.  I needed to get out of the heat and get my mind quiet.  And how did sweet baby Jesus respond?  With a loud, boisterous sounds from a magnificent organ!  Someone seriously started playing it at that exact moment.  How was that for a reply?  Like I said before, the Universe may be f**king with me……  Nonetheless, I sat and enjoyed the music for an hour or more. What a treat it was to have a semi-private concert from such a talented musician, so I savored the heck out of it. Of course, I have NO idea what the wonderful musician looks like, sadly, because the massive organ had swallowed him up and we couldn’t get a good view of him.  When I say “we”, I don’t mean me and the three other voices in my head (nice try).  I mean myself and the couple that were sitting near me also enjoying the divine sound.

The man and I quickly became picture taking partners in crime as we tried to hunt down the musician who had been swallowed up by the organ…. alas we were unsuccessful…..I think the organ quite possibly ate him. After leaving the Piazzle, I hiked another 3 miles to Fort Belvedere, only to figure out it has been closed for two years, because this poor woman fell to her death.  Guess we aren’t in Obidos anymore, folks.  Two years, and they haven’t figured out what safety measures to take?!  Maybe the churches here can lend some money for the legal battle – isn’t that right up their alley? (Yes, I am aware of the fact that I may be going to hell, but I am going to enjoy the ride down)

Now I am on my way to grab some dinner, and more importantly my scarf that I left at Claudio’s house before I rushed out of there faster than hurricane winds can take down New Orleans.  For dinner, I enjoyed an excellent dish of gnocchi a quatro frommages before going on my scavenger hunt (I can’t say it enough how much I love pasta, cream and cheese…sweet baby Jesus).  Then, I went to say hello to Claudio, who about dropped all of the dishes he was delivering to a party of six.  Obviously, he didn’t expect to see me again (well, I have news for you Senorge, my mom gave me that scarf and you cannot have it!).  He didn’t have his keys for his new house he had just purchased at that particular moment, sooooooo we are having lunch on Saturday….I know, I know, I am a moron, but he has blue eyes, so what can I say?…..