Our two-night stay in Florence is ending all too soon. I can't figure out how to upload photos on this rent-a-computer (it's hard enough to find the correct keys for typing because the Euro-keyboard is loaded with accent marks where other keys usually are), but if you were looking at a photo I'd posted, it might be of a statue of da Vinci or Galileo, or one of the three million (!!!) animal specimens at Europe's oldest and largest natural history museum, or our funky art hotel, or the two of us sketching at the Uffizi art museum, or the dramatic third-floor apartment fire we stumbled upon, or maybe two glasses of Chianti next to two plates of steaming homemade pasta. We will post photos eventually. We have found some treasures to bring back to The Naturalist's Notebook...and wish we had room in a suitcase for others. I made it to a more than 200-year-old astronomical observatory and tried to figure out the principles behind a solar calendar inlaid in the floor (I had inadvertently joined a tour group, but the guide was speaking Italian). Time to head off to the bus station and a trip to Siena. On Tuesday we will move on to the Spannocchia foundation retreat and organic farm outside Siena for a drawing workshop and even more great food and history. And some really interesting animals. Bye until then!
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