24 Sept- Part 2

Here are some more photos from today and tonight for your viewing pleasure:

Fine Gara Ciclistica- End of the Bike Race

Riding the course to the finish. Maybe not the shortest way there, but the fastest and smoothest.

Crossing the finish line at the Worlds, in my own way.

It seems like half the shops in Firenze (and the surrounding area) have dressed their windows up with bikes, cycling gear or jerseys. Often times they actually have nicer gear than the bike shops in town. Above are just a few of many.

By the way, the last one is a super chromed-out bike in the window at the Salvatore Ferragamo store/ headquarters/ museum. Very hard to get a good pic but it was stunning. A real statement. Oh yeah, Samara, there's a Ferragamo museum now.

Everyone wants in on the action. A chance to ride on the World course between races is a must do.

Osteria Centopoveri comes through again. Calzone with Ricotta and Spinach. Sounds simple enough but you have no idea! Every bite was incredible, I'm not exaggerating. After sampling quite a number of restaurants here during this trip and the last, I've decided I will be eating dinner at Centopoveri exclusively for the rest of the week. There is so much on their menu I want to try and everything has been outstanding so far. It's worth coming to Firenze just to eat at this place. And it's not expensive either.

Piazza Santa Maria Novella is a favorite of mine and it's always beautiful and lively at night. Samara, look what they did with those big sandy areas. Nice grass and flowers. Looks a lot better.

And, of course, what would a roam around town be without the Duomo. It's an amazing building. There is so much to look at on its fasade (and the whole building for that matter). A thousand trips here and you'll always see something you hadn't seen before.

My view writing this is so typically Tuscan.

Musical observations of the day: an accordion player on the street beside the Duomo was very good tonight. He really captivated me with what sounded to be some dark Baroque sounding organ music. But he lost me with Pachelbel's Canon in D. I hate that piece. Maybe it was that stupid Vitamin C Graduation Song that killed that chord progression for me.

And, totally unrelated but as always Joni Mitchell...the best (listening to For the Roses now).