D173 -- Our final week begins!

Big day for us... today we said goodbye to my sister Patty and her husband Dan, and met up with four friends who will join us on the final week of our 6-month round-the-world trip.


Patty and Dan were flying out of Pisa so we woke up at 7:30 to drive them there in enough time to visit the famous “Leaning Tower.” Boy, that sucker really leans! I'd never given any thought to its purpose and always just picture it off on its own as a stand-alone building. Turns out it's a bell tower for a cathedral (duomo), and it does stand alone but it's right next to the duomo. And behind the duomo is a round baptistery. All three buildings were really beautiful and unique - the baptistery was particularly striking.




I was also struck at the inappropriate attire of some of the duomo visitors - and I'm not talking about women in tank tops!











We dropped the family off and it was on to Florence to meet up with Michael, Thomas' best bud from high school, and his wife Sarah. After a happy reunion at the train station and lunch with the locals

we embarked on a bit of an adventure to pick up their rental car. Avis had shut down early because it was a feast day for Florence's patron saint so we had to find a phone to figure out where to go, then trek out to the airport. Little did we know we'd be having more adventures today. We were set to meet our friends Leslie & Mayowa at the train station around 5, but they e-mailed us that their flight was delayed and instead would get in around 8. But they weren't on the 8:00 train – nor the 8:30. None of us had cell phones so we didn't know what was going on. Sometime during our wait for them I realized I was missing my wallet. When I went to the police office at the station to ask if anyone had found it I somehow ended up filling out a police report. It's hard to communicate when you don't speak the language! Sarah had the good sense to go check the car for me and she came back with my wallet just as I was finishing the “missing wallet” report. I didn't mind the wasted time, as the office was air conditioned and it was damn hot outside. Plus, a couple of the officers were cute!

Leslie and Mayowa rolled in around 10. Turns out their luggage was lost by the airlines and their train had been delayed. Despite their bumpy and long travels they were in good spirits. It was so wonderful and a bit surreal to be hanging out with friends outside the US, and we enjoyed catching up with everyone on the drive home.

-Elva