Seriousamente! It's not a real word but it's catching on.

Great girls night out and we did in fact find a good martini at a great locals bar a few blocks from here. As the drinks started working our words started flowing and our comfort level went up. Tammi was on a roll at one point and exclaimed "seriousamente!", which earned a laugh from the girls. The right word is apparently "seriamente" but Tammi insists hers is better and it's catching on. We'll leave Italy in a few weeks but "seriousamente" is here to stay!

The next night Adri's friend Alessandra invited us all to an art show at the Palazzo Medici. After that dinner at Napo Leone over in Piazza Carmine. It was fabulous and in the same piazza as the martini bar and Church of Santa Maria del Carmine, so we can eat, drink and confess our sins all in one place. A very convenient little piazza. Anyway, "Le cinque belle donne"(we five beautiful women) had a lovely time and Alessandra asked us all over to her house Wednesday for a BBQ Italian style. Her boyfriend is going to cook for us, lucky devil. A huge thanks to Adri and all our new friends for making us feel so welcome!

More sight-seeing Friday and we must admit we succumbed to a hankering for the fresh white beans at Antinori. Lunch was more than dinner and drinks the night before, so we won't do
that again. We met Stefania and her husband in their neighbored at Bar Giorgio, where they treated us to drinks and a great raw shellfish plate, and yes, I did eat it. Tammi says I might have even eaten raw sea bass but she's not sure. Mom will be so proud. Just when we thought the night couldn't get better Massimo and Stefania took us to their flat where Massimo whipped up an unbelievably good pasta and cheese plate and after dinner Vin Santo made by Stefania's dad. Joe, Tammi says you would have been in heaven. He even had those little sandwich cookies you had in Paris. Now, if we can just wrangle an invitation to the home of whoever is cooking what's coming through our window right now!

Saturday we wandered the medieval section around Dante's old haunt and stopped into a beautiful church for an organ concert before dinner. We were both trying to shake off our frustration over getting roped into table service at lunch, which doubled the price. We know better and won't do that again either. Back to the martini bar last night. Three martinis later we strolled ( no, we didn't crawl) through a major thunderstorm back to our piazza and landed in a quaint little trattoria for yes another 11:00pm pasta dinner. Oh, and more wine,
and a limoncello, on the house. We charmed the owner with our Italian. Remember that church I mentioned earlier? Tammi's over there now praying to be able to walk on water. She thinks she'll need to walk back to Florida to burn up all these calories. What is it about this Italian alcohol? We popped out of bed this morning and hit the organic market down on the square. There's nothing like this at home. Parmesan wheels the size of truck tires, fresh breads and gourmet paninis, pestos, olive oils, fruits and veggies, yumm. Ok, more later. We're strapping on our walking shoes. Vegetable broth for dinner at home tonight.