So, what happened in our NEXT exciting episode??

Rachel and I needed to experience some of this new land for ourselves, beyond buying groceries.  I got up and dressed and we went to the public market. We were approached several times by vendors who had "just the right jacket" for me. Some of the vendors were quite aggressive, and were laughed  at profusely by their compatriots when we refused to enter into negotiations with them.  We managed to make it through the market without being extorted out of any hard-earned cash.
We went up to NYU Florence to visit our son. He had given us directions to the campus which included a small amount of walking and a short bus ride. It turns out he's been here too long, because the walking was interminable and the bus ride was rough and much longer than we expected. It's funny how "civilization" tends to make one soft. What I mean is: Americans have a very cushy, soft life. We don't have to do most of the stuff that keeps most europeans in much better shape than most of us (bike enthusiasts excluded).

                                              That's Bob in the lower left corner of the photo.
                                                            
On arriving at the NYU campus we were told that Alden had to come sign us in, and he was in class for another 1.5 hours. We settled in for a long wait, but then saw Vinnie and Jaime walking down the driveway. They re Alden's rommates, some of the "boys of Borgo Pinti".
They signed us in and left us free to wander the campus. We went to the main building and met an Italian guard who treated us very well and sent us into a vey nice room with couches to wait.
I immediately passed out and Rachel took pictures on me with my mouth hanging slackly open and looking so much like Homer Simpson that I don't want to elaborate further. I deleted every damned one of them when I found them.

We walked around the NYU Florence campus and found it to be utterly gorgeous.There are gardens behind walls, gardens in front of walls, and gardens within gardens. All of the gardens have interesting sculptures of naked people doing sometimes incomprehensible things.

                                   Naked stone people doing incomprehensible stuff

 Holding jugs of wine, dogs, swords, and all kinds of stuff. I am sure that these sculptures had heavy meaning for those who commissioned them, but much of that meaning is today lost without extensive research into the life of the individual who commissioned the sculpture.

Part of the  extensive NYU gardens

 Kinda reminds me of the "behold my works and despair, o' ye mighty" scenario. Look it up if the reference is lost on you. Anyhow, gorgeous campus, 5 different villas consolidated into the campus. Lots of olive trees, which I have never seen before.

Another shot, different part of the gardens.

We headed back down the hill with Alden to Borgo Pinti, his home in the city. Getting around was much easier since he knows the city.

Once at Borgo Pinti we got to meet his roommates, Patrick, Paasha, Nathaniel, Jamey, Jared, Vinnie, Pierre, Casey, Stephen, Daniel, and Mario.
Alden cooked us a fabulous dinner of chicken satay, Prosciutto tortellii, and raw broccolli. Quite tasty. He's almost as good a cook as I am.

A Great dinner!

After visiting we took a cab back to our apartment to sleep and get ready for tomorrow.