During the conference in Opio, I had talked to many French people there who told me that Nice wasn't that interesting to visit. They said that the vieux Nice (old town in Nice) is interesting, although dirty, but that the rest of the city wasn't appealing. Most of them suggested that we go to Cannes and Monaco instead. This morning, we decided to stay in Nice to walk around and visit as much of it as possible.

When we were told of our French conference, I hadn't realized that the Cannes Film Festival would be held at the same time. It's not something that I generally keep track of. I know when it's going on when it's in the news. I was thinking of staying in Cannes instead of Nice, but I decided against it when I couldn't find any nice rooms there.

Our days in Opio have been full of sun and cool breezes. We've been able to have all the windows and doors open during the day and even the night in our room. It's the one thing we can almost never do in Florence in the spring and summer because of the zanzare (mosquitoes). I would've thought we'd be invaded by various insects in the French countryside, but there seem to be very few.

Dave and I have never been to a Club Med before. Last year when we were in the US for a conference, the French mother-company invited Dave and me to come to their French conference. They offered to pay for everything and Dave, in exchange, would do a few presentations. All we had to do was get here.

When I woke up at 5:30AM this morning, I took a picture of the sunrise from one of our windows in the apartment because I never get to see it. At 7AM, I called a taxi and they gave us only a few minutes to drag our luggage downstairs. The second we opened the building door, the taxi arrived. He drove us down the empty streets and I looked back at the Santa Croce church, which was so beautifully lit in the morning sun, as we turned toward Piazza della Signoria.

When I arrived in Piazza della Signoria after lunch, I saw crowds of people standing around and then heard cars driving by. I walked up to the barrier and found out that the Mille Miglia car race was on its final leg through Florence and back up to Brescia. The police temporarily closed off via Calzaiuoli to let the cars drive by, but I was able to take pictures from the other side of the barrier.

When I bought a new pair of sandals at Coin today, the woman told me to go to a calzolaio (shoemaker) to see if he could repair them so that I won't slip on the pavement. I had seen a calzolaio near where I live, but I knew that at 6:30PM, I'd have to hurry to get there before closing time at 7PM.

Today on my way down via de' Neri to go to my parrucchiere (hairdresser), I saw a small billboard outside of the McRae bookstore saying that Isabella Dusi was going to be coming this evening. I had seen her books "Vanilla Beans and Brodo" and "Bel Vino" in the bookstore but never bought either one.

This morning I woke up at 4AM to the sound of thunder roaring outside. A few flashes and then more rumbling. I heard the rain begin to fall as I fell back asleep. At 8AM I woke up and it was pouring down rain. Our friends, John and Shruti, told us that it was hailing this morning, but we didn't see that. When we went to their place, they even showed us a piece of ice the size of a gum-ball that they put in a container in their freezer.

When I moved to Italy back in November of 2004, my friend Arcangela accompanied me to a place where she went to do yoga. I'd been advised to do yoga by many people and I was finally ready to give it a try. Over the past year and a half, I've been going to my yoga center for many different activities besides yoga.

Because Florence is often crowded with locals and tourists, I find myself not going out during the peak times of the day. For example, I don't shop in the late afternoons and I almost never go to the mercato before noon. I try to plan my excursions when the streets aren't quite as congested.

Today when I went to the mercato, the weather was absolutely perfect. It was cool in the shade and warm in the sun. After weeks of intermittent rain, which mostly came in the afternoon, I was so happy to finally see the sunny skies. So happy, in fact, that I watered the plants on our little terrace.

Our apartment is generally quiet, but sometimes in the spring and summer when we open up all the windows, we can hear the neighbors talking, watching TV, and shutting their windows and doors. Today is the Festa del lavoro/Festa dei lavoratori (Labor day) in Italy, so we woke up to the birds chirping, a steady quietness, and sunny skies.

I loved Florence the minute I visited it a year before I planned on moving here. I knew that visiting a city and living in the same city would be different, but I was willing to risk it. I found the move to Florence more difficult than I had with other moves I'd made previously. I had arrived alone and was struggling to learn the language. I had no help, no friends, no job, no acquaintances, and no idea of what I was going to do next.

One of my favorite things to do in Florence is go to the annual Mostra dell'Artigianato. I love to check out the different artists and craftsmen who present and sell their work. This year again, it was held at the Fortezza da basso (pictured here), which is located behind the train station.