Here is how the various A2K members would greet you

Dont you ever use that firm handgrip of yours on me there again. No guy is supposed to make me feel that way.

"Handshake", sheesh.

Isnt it great how young we've all stayed!


She's cute. I'd do her.

Cute? she's a honey!

Get in line

approaching the door, you'd hear this ...

then you'd spot Reyn and Intrepid holding their smelling salts.

sometimes it pays off to arrive early

gus is always welcome to my home. I'm waiting for his visit now.

Awww, yer a cute little tank, yes you are (scratches tank behind the ear)
and what a cute little wee-wee-gun you have.

stuh, We saw this tank at Latrun, Israel, at the tank battalion base and museum where they have over 100 tanks on display. The Hotchkiss is one of the older tanks (from the thirties), I believe from France.

I wish y'all could be my guests in Florence. Hey, I wish I could be my guest too....




See that balcony over the door of the red colored building? That was our room in one of the first places I stayed in Italy. The red building is the Hotel Due Fontane. We stayed there because a friend's daughter's boyfriend ran the bar and breakfast concession... The piazza is SS Annunziata, one of the piazzas in Room with a View, but I didn't know that at the time, not sure that had been filmed yet. The building on the left is Brunelleschi's orphanage, which I understand was the first renaissance building.

Anyway, it's about two blocks from the Duomo and much else. I think it would be fun to take the hotel over for a few days some mellow October..


That, or the one not shown in that photo, the one that is in the old Servite
Monastery.. Loggiati dei Serviti. Actually liked it better, and it's quieter, more cloaked from the sounds of motociccletti.
http://www.loggiatodeiservitihotel.it/profilo-eng.html


The hotel, which is to the right of the Due Fontane



The church (loggia added after Brunelleschi did the orphanage) - facing the Due Fontane..



I got a tiny room in the Loggiati hotel, back in 1999, when I'd arrived in town two days early and went to the tourist office at the train station. That was the only hotel name I recognized at the time, and I got a great deal, well under advertised price. My room might have been a former closet, but it had the great furniture and drapes et al.


Well, this is much bigger than the room I had...




That first evening back in the eighties in the Due Fontane, the sunset was burnishing the old church, and friends had sent us a bottle of chilled champagne...
so since then, when other friends have stayed there, I've ordered champagne for them by phone..


Gotta say my photos are a lot better, but they're not on my computer.

The Florence I remember.

And here.

Mmmmmmmmm.....

It's probably not my fav italian city - but it's very walkable and dense with beauty.

Re: Here is how the various A2K members would greet you


No, no NO, Gus!
You've got me all wrong!

This is how it would really go.:

First, I don't spend any time running around wearing"beauty masks". I'm more likely to be covered with soil & fertilizer from gardening.

Then, on hearing the doorbell ring, I'd quickly brush all the soil, fertilizer & cat fur off my clothes. A quick look in the mirror: All gone? Not perfect, but this will have to do!

Then, seeing a strange fellow speaking in an unusual accent on my doorstep, I'd probably look perplexed.: Not another American attempting to covert to yet another religion!!! No, I am not interested in saving my soul. I'm a heathern. NO!!!

Then, when you finally get to explain who you are, (GUS!!!! Good grief! OMG! ) I'd invite you in. :Put your feet up! You must be tired & hungry after that long trip? Would you like some food/water/coffee/wine? Please feel free to remove that cat from you lap! When did you arrive? How long are you staying? Etc, etc .. OMG!

Actually, Gus, that is pretty much how you'd really be greeted!

Olga does gush a bit!

Like Dadpad said - most Australians would just say g'day!

Gush?

Gush?

Just you wait till your next visit, Miss Sydney!

19th January 2007.....

I'll remember that date!

CAT FIGHT

Sorry to disappoint you, dadpad, but Ms margo & I are good mates.
Probably something to do with the cat connection.

... & we rather enjoy a bit of an online bicker!