Adventures in Italy: SO HAPPY TO HAVE DAN AND RACHEL WITH US :)

Dan and Rachel arrived at 5 pm on Wednesday, June 25. It was just so great to see their faces! We had an early dinner at Sostanza, where I said good bye to all my "friends" there (that was the fourth time Melissa and I had been there in as many weeks!!). When I told our waiter we were going back home on Sunday, he told me he thought that I lived in Florence because my Italian is so good! Thank you Instituto Italiano! After dinner we walked along the Arno, crossed the Ponte Vecchio, saw an opera in rehearsal, walked to the Piazza della Signoria where a symphony was playing, watched a Charlie Chaplain-like clown who performs in the street outside the Piazza della Repubblica every night, then walked to the Duomo, and finally ended up at Riva Reno for gelato (of course), before retiring to the apartment. It was really a great evening.

Today, July 26, Dan and Rachel walked to the school and joined us for our break between classes at Caffè Martelli for an espresso and a snack. They went to the San Lorenzo market during our second class and then cam back to the school where they met our teachers and our friends. One of Melissa's friends (from the U.S.) asked Melissa why her brother was Mexican!!! We then went to lunch at ZaZa and then to the Uffizi Gallery. Sitting for a few minutes at the Piazza della Signoria we saw the guy with the blue clown hair (that we had seen on our street a few nights ago--and whose picture I included in a previous post). Turns out, he IS a clown and was really quite funny (in a creepy clown sort of way). Melissa met Carly and Jordan in the Piazza and Dan, Rachel and I went home for a little rest.
Tonight we are going to dinner at La Giostra (one of Rachel's favorites and a place she had recommended to me).