Florence - Week 1

I landed in Florence this past Monday and have had a great time thus far. My cousin, Irene, took me to a piano recital given by one of her friends who appears to even be better than me! On Tuesday, I pretty much relaxed and regained my energy from Amsterdam. Andi, I finished that book you gave me about Spain. It was very good and almost better to read it after I had visited all those places previously. I went to the Bargello museum which is known for it's multitude of statues and the following day, I went to the Uffizi museum which was also good. Last night we went to another piano concert but with professionals this time. It was 2 pianists playing 2 pianos and occasionally, 1 piano. So I have to talk about the food. I honestly can't remember when I have eaten this much. Everything is local because the people in Florence don't really import anything. I've had pizza, pasta, gelato (pistacchio, hazelnut, vanilla cream, vanilla with bits of real chocolate, and tiramisu to start off my time here), and many other italian foods including ''Stacacca'' bread which is not actually called that but it's what Jamie and I came up with last time we were here because it sounds better. Luckily, there's a gym across the road from my family's place so I'm not turning into a complete fatass. Today, Irene and her boyfriend, Lorenzo, are taking me to Siena for a few hours and then coming back to Florence for an ''authentic and rustic'' florentine dinner. Tomorrow, I'm going to watch Porsches race around an F1 track. I've tried getting the pictures to work but the computers here don't seem to allow it. Thus I will put them up whenever I can.