Sunday we went to the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles …. Wow. Seriously. We planned on around an hour or so to see the Elvis at 21 photography exhibit (there til March 28), but we could have easily spent all day at the museum.
Why didn’t anyone tell me!!?

I definitely want to go back to the Grammy Museum and spend more than an hour. You could make this an all-day event. Especially as it’s on the campus of L.A. Live. Go to an early lunch, and then spend the whole afternoon …

Are you tired of hearing about Rick Steves? Sorry. This post is about how we got to see Rick Steves speak for 2 hours at the L.A. Times Travel Show.
Here’s what I love about Rick Steves:

He’s smart.
He’s opinionated.
He’s not afraid to say what he REALLY thinks (even if it offends potential customers) {which actually makes good business sense}

Love it.
I’ve listened to a couple years of archives of his weekly podcasts (until tragedy struck), so I’m familiar with a lot of his talking points.
But that sure doesn’t compare to seeing him …

Did you know that the Los Angeles Times hosts a Travel show every year?
I didn’t …. until this year.
It was incredibly crowded and busy, and full of people trying to sell you things. But SO INTERESTING.
There was snorkeling and lassoing and surf lessons and golfing. There was an old greek man giving away alcohol and a booth where you could have your photo taken in cowboy or indian garb. There was an African musician. There were 2 (2!) booths giving away massages.
And piles and piles of paper with pretty photos, …

Just a handful of shots of our traveling from Florence back to Rome.

This is about when we realized that Rome drivers are completely insane.
Notice the lack of lane lines in the image below.

Then un etto of pizza at a small place near our b&b.
And more gelato.

Only one day left of our trip! How sad ….

As we are finally leaving Florence, it is time for a slightly more intimate look at the bed & breakfast we stayed in for the 3 nights we were there.
I highly (highly) recommend staying at Floralia if you go to Florence. Not only is it extremely reasonably priced for the center of town (~80-90euros/double), but the owners are this super sweet Italian brother and sister team.
Sabino (doesn’t live there but) arrives when he knows guests are checking in or out to give them the tour, the keys, take the money, …

After visiting David, we had a bit of time before the train.
Lunch, San Lorenzo market, pick up our luggage and walk to the train station.
Lunchtime: We just wandered around town until we found something. I guess we chose this place based on it’s look entirely. It looked cute.
The food was not so great. Not terrible, but probably the worst meal we had all week. Just not good.
Forst. Write it down. Don’t go there when you’re in Florence.
While we were eating, one of the restaurants nearby was serenaded with street performers …

You turn the corner, and walk into the hallway where you know he is.
Your expectations are high, but you try to temper your excitement so you’re not too let down. Just in case.
You try to avoid looking up to save the moment as long as possible but it’s too hard.
You know that the place is packed all because of him. You’re elbow to elbow with other camera-toting-but-not-allowed-to-take-pictures tourists all facing and moving toward one end of the room.
Finally, unable to postpone the moment you look up. Past all the heads. …

On our last morning in Florence, the one thing that we DEFINITELY planned on doing was visiting the Accademia. So much planned ahead that we bought time-scheduled entrance tickets a couple months ahead of time to make sure we were able to get in ….
So, noonish, we headed over to that side of town (remember, walking across the length of Florence is fairly easy to do in less than an hour) … and found several lines out in front of the museum.
One for reservations (score!) and a longer one for …

So Thursday morning in Florence, we visited Santa Croce. That gorgeous basilica I’ve blogged about the last couple days. With the memorials and the tombs and the Catholic art and the little nuns. The photos do NOT do this place justice. I just loved the space and the light.
But that wasn’t even all of it. RIGHT next door is a leather school (Miranda visited the leather school when she was in Florence and bought herself a wallet).
It really is right next door …. In the same building complex, sharing a …

Continuing on our Thursday morning, in Florence, at Santa Croce …..
(Every once in awhile I remember to take a self portrait, or Andrew kindly asks if I want him to take a picture of me. ….. proves I was there, right?)
also: I was wearing Andrew’s glasses for a little bit because my eyes aren’t so good at seeing far away. Which is why I’m going to go to the eye doctor sometime this year.

Andrew loved the skulls. Lots of skulls on the grave/tomb markers. Pretty morbid, to us. But I’m …

For those of you just joining us, I have been chronicling Andrew’s and my week in Italy …. Rome, Florence for a wedding, and then Rome again. ….   It was magic.
Our last morning in Florence (Thursday) we made time to visit the Basilica of Santa Croce (note: this is post 1 of 2 about the church).
This church was huge and ornate and so interesting. Granted, there are churches/basilicas EVERYWHERE in Italy. Everywhere. On every corner, in every nook.
But this was one of the bigger ones ….
The front – faces a …

Allegedly – according to Wikipedia – Mentryville, CA was an oil boom town.
I’m not sure I believe it.
Right now it consists of a parking lot ($5 for parking??? give me a break), a house, a boarded up school and a couple barns.
Not too sure where the town would have been …..
For those of you who did NOT grow up in Santa Clarita with all kinds of urban legends about Mentryville and the cults that lived out there ….. Mentryville is basically a state part just on the outskirts of Santa …

Thursday morning – we had about 1/2 day in Florence to do touristy things before catching our train back to Rome.
Leisurely breakfast at the B&B. We *technically* checked out, but were able to keep our bags there AND keep the keys ….. so, yea. They’re pretty lenient on that sort of thing
As we were heading out for the day, the bride and groom had just woken up and were eating, while getting directions to their day excursion.
I found out later they didn’t end up going, but instead …

I know, the title sounds kind of ooh-la-la, but it’s mostly a story about Devo and myself.  Oh, this is Andrew by the way, doing a mid-week post since this is my story and not Amy’s.
After the wedding and reception, Devo had rounded up cabs to take all the guests to their lodgings.  Amy, Angela, Devo and myself were the last ones at the hotel waiting for our cab to arrive and Devo asked if anyone would rather walk back to the B&B.  Maybe make a stop at Piazza di …