Brenda's home from Florence! Brenda's home from Florence!
It is totally beyond me how a whole month can go by so fast and here I am, sitting at my computer and thinking about the months and months that I sat here planning this trip, asking innumerable stupid-tourist questions on Slowtalk, meeting STers in the chat room and asking more stupid tourist-questions, taking the plunge and booking my flight...(no backing out now, Brenda...that's too much money to blow, so you are GOING to Italy!)
I arrived home Sunday night late, and actually went to work today! Now, I'm fading fast, so this will be short...
Florence was just the best...my apartment on via Cavour was like a movie set...perfect in every way. My rental manager was a dream, making sure I had everything I wanted or needed and providing me with museum reservations, train ticket to Pisa, transportation from the airport and to the train station...like I said, a dream...
I ate myself silly, walked my legs to little stubs, shopped in luscious places, slept wonderfully, lazed in the sun on my terrace, discovered tiramisu gelato and met some truly wonderful people...more than a few of them are Slowtrav members!
Thank you, each and every one, for your help, advice, information, humor and wisdom...you all made my trip a lot easier to plan and a lot more enjoyable, because I knew so much more than I otherwise would have with out your help...
I was such a keener on this trip ....I wrote in my journal every day, so the trip report should be a cakewalk! Photos are being downloaded onto my website by my marvellous son, and I'll crop and clean them up, and then post them here, with help from my marvelous daughter...
If you flip over to the France section of Slowtalk, you'll find my post there about that portion of this luscious trip of mine...plus you'll find a whole other world of Slowtalk, so check it out!
Ciao, amici...you're the best!
"It isn't so much what's on the table that matters, as who's in the chairs." Brenda
Can hardly wait for your trip report, restaurant reviews, shopping, etc....you know, all the insider stuff!
So sorry about your unfortunate situation on your way to Paris. I believe everything happens for a reason, but sometimes I still question that.
You must be exhausted, have a rest and get back to us soon. We miss your enthusiasm. Hope your jetlag isn't too bad and "Welcome Back" to this continent.
Luisa
Posts: 153 | Location: Southern California Desert | Registered: 09 March 2005
Welcome home Brenda! I'm sure you're trip report will be amazing! Check out the Florence STGTG thread for a picture of our lunch-it was so nice to meet you and I'm so glad that to hear that overall your trip was fabulous.
HI Brenda.. Time flies. It has gotten cold again here in Florence. The cool air makes the flowers that are blooming last longer...
I emailed you about our phone conversation. I hope that you can get something done about your baggage problem. Looking forward to you photos and trip report.
Welcome home to sunny Alberta, Brenda! You're right, it doesn't seem fair that the months leading up to a trip crawl by so slowly, and the trip itself goes by like a whirlwind. Now you are sitting at your desk, on the other side of the experience... feels weird, I'm sure. Anyway count me in as one of your legions of fans, looking forward to your trip report. - Marie
's 4:45 P.M. here in sunny Alberta, I'm sitting at my desk in my office, and thinking about my trip...no surprise, that! I agree with you, Marie, it is so funny how my year and a half of planning, thinking and agonizing has passed, the 3 weeks in Florence and 10 days in Paris have passed, and I'm back to my 'real' life, as if nothing has happened at all... still, I can't help but think there must be a way to hold on to the lovely feeling that a trip like this generates...can I bottle it, freeze-dry it, store it for future dreadful days? Nope, all I can do is remember as much as I can, savor those memories and save my dineros to get over there again, as fast as I can!
Charity, tiramisu gelato is so totally decadent...of all the flavors, that is my favorite, followed closely by chocolate hazelnut. It was Kris and Mark, at the GTG who mentioned it to me...I tried it, and it certainly caught my attention! It actually has chunks of ladyfingers in the gelato...yum! YUM!
You know, Luisa, I have been relatively jet-lag free on this end of the trip....now, the first few days in Florence after we arrived was another whole issue...I was pretty zonked out! Coupled with an over-night flight...which I will never, never do again, BTW...it was 3 - 4 days before I felt like I was functional, and a week before I really felt back to 'normal', whatever normal is for me...
Kate...you were right...it is truly an amazing experience! Thank you so much for your advice and assistance...I learned a lot from our talks in the chat room!
Colleen, that's a great photo! How did you get it up so quickly? And, by the way, I hear that your sister is the big winner....what a wonderful thing for her! Pass my congratulations on to her, please? Is the winning photo available for viewing anywhere?
Matriarch Marian, here I am! ...and just so you know, I went to the Officina Profumo Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella...and a jar of almond hand paste rests on my vanity, in your honor! ...(oh, yeah, and I use it every night before bed...)
Angie...got your e-mail, thanks for the support...I'd love Florence right now, with the coolness! I didn't mind the rain and cool while I was there, as that is really comfortable weather for me...(you heard me cry about the heat the last couple of days?)
Sandra, it WAS really all that and more...I may sound like a bit of a broken record when I say how superb it was, but there are only so many words that describe what I felt and saw and heard and tasted...
Colleen, photos are coming...my son downloaded them to my website for me, and now I have to sort through, crop and post them...not a hardship at all...I get to go on my trip again, vicariously through the photos!
Jan, you are so right...ST is a home, as you said...a place where I certainly feel at home! I'm working on the photos, trip report and organizing my information so that it will hopefully help other travellers...a way of paying back for all the help y'all gave me!
Famous last words:"I'm just glad it'll be Clark Gable who's falling on his face and not Gary Cooper." ~ Gary Cooper on his decision not to take the leading role in "Gone With the Wind." Brenda
This message has been edited. Last edited by: BGE,
Brenda, I just wanted to join everyone else in a big "Welcome home" I enjoyed reading your posts from Italy...so sorry about your horrible ordeal in Pisa. I hope that somehow you get reimbursed....although it was great you were able to stay longer in Paris! I can't wait to read your trip report and see your pictures. I have a teensy weensy bit of almond paste hand cream left....only a few more night's worth! I'm hoping to get back to Florence in October so I can stock up!!
well, so happy to have you back safely and filled with wonderful memories....all of your planning, 3 ringed binders filled with SlowTrav notes paid off!!
Brenda- I so know what you mean about wanting to "freeze" the memories of Italy. I am totally "homesick"! I did find a wonderful trip report on Fodors today with lots of pictures of Florence, Rome, Venice and Milan that helped ease the "withdrawal" a little at http://gquan.com/italia/italia.html.
I sent the GTG picture to Kim to post that's why it's posted in a timely fashilon! I still need to learn the posting pictures skill I'm afraid.
I can't find the website for the Putlizer Prize photo essay that my sister edited at the SF Chronicle but will ask her and let you know. She is ever so grateful for your leather recommandation. She got one hot jacket! I'm glad your jetlag isn't bad on this side of the pond. For some reason it's always worse for me coming home-no adrelaine rush to be in Italy I guess!
Brenda, So glad you had a great time(minus the luggage incident).Loved reading your travel posts and am anxiously awaiting your trip report and reviews. My son will be spending a semester studying in Florence this fall and I may have to go visit him!
Colleen, what SF Chronicle photo essay did your sister win a Pulitzer for?
Posts: 982 | Location: San Francisco bay area | Registered: 12 May 2003
Gloria- She didn't win, her photographer did. She edited the series. It was a photo essay on an boy in Iraq who was badly injured by a land mine and was brought to Oakland for surgery. His family was granted asylum here and she followed the whole story. It was quite moving.
Brenda, welcome home! I am so glad you had a wonderful time.
I have been on the board rather sporadically lately, and I would like to find the thread about Brenda's baggage incident (or should I say nightmare!) Can someone point me in the right direction?
Colleenk, did your sister work on the "Lion Heart" essay? If so, I found that series absolutely riveting.
Posts: 348 | Location: San Francisco, CA | Registered: 22 April 2003
Slightly off topic here, but Brenda is such a good sport I know she won't mind.
When I travel to Italy I don't want to drink Starbucks coffee, or buy a Gap t-shirt in Paris...or for that matter a Furla purse here in Vancouver. You get the picture.
One of my favourite things in Italy is a visit to the Officina Profumo Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella...drink in the atmosphere and purchase a few treasured items. Yes, it is a good excuse for a trip back to Florence.
HOWEVER, since it isn't always possible to make the trip, and since so many of us become completely addicted to the wonderful soaps and lotions, I wonder whether you know that there are Santa Maria Novella Boutiques in NY and LA?
Colleen, I work at Childrens Hospital in Oakland and I have taken care of Saleh and his family. That was a great story. As an aside, every morning when I arrive at work, Saleh's father greets me with a big hello. He was able to find a job at the hospital.
Posts: 982 | Location: San Francisco bay area | Registered: 12 May 2003
Brenda, I can hear all the joy and love of your trip in your 'voice'. I am sooooo thrilled that your trip was the trip you dreamed of-let's just erase the negatives and baggage incident for now.
Marie, I have used this next paraphrased quote before, but it works here too: Getting there is half the fun In other words all the hours, days, and months of preperations is in my mind more than half the trip. All the collecting, printing and whole punching brings you to your destination long before you even leave home. And then you have the terrific paper trail and bookmarks to go back to when you HAVE to go home.
Anyway, home is where you are now Brenda and I am really glad you are back so that you can write up your report so that I, and others, can read and live through your words and visions.
I am not sure about this, but I have a feeling if you have jetlag one way you won't have it the other way. We are always jetlagged coming home, so far never going. Does that ring true for others out here?
Anyway, rest well and enjoy the memories of the sites, sounds and tastes you experienced. And now share them please Home again... Home again... jiggidy jig Wendy
Posts: 3077 | Location: Monterey Peninsula, California, USA | Registered: 07 September 2003
Brenda, I am so impressed by how you were able to recover from the luggage theft.
I'm also impressed that your travel agent was so helpful and effective. Based on my limited experience I don't normally advocate travel agents, but if I could get one like you have, I definitely would.
Topic Closed
....I wrote in my journal every day, so the trip report should be a cakewalk!
)
gelato is so totally decadent...of all the flavors, that is my favorite, followed closely by chocolate hazelnut. It was Kris and Mark, at the GTG who mentioned it to me...I tried it, and it certainly caught my attention! It actually has chunks of ladyfingers in the gelato...yum! YUM!
...and just so you know, I went to the Officina Profumo Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella...and a jar of almond hand paste rests on my vanity, in your honor! 
I enjoyed reading your posts from Italy...so sorry about your horrible ordeal in Pisa. I hope that somehow you get reimbursed....although it was great you were able to stay longer in Paris! 
I'm hoping to get back to Florence in October so I can stock up!!
