This begins the last week of class. Now is the time for the editing crunch. I was a little concerned today when the people responsible told me there were still "one or two" things left to shoot. At this stage, we should not still be shooting. The VO audio was recorded this morning but will have to be re-done. Tried doing it in an upstairs bathroom (for the quiet) but it echoed too much. Not easy finding a quiet place in the city.

Kim's birthday was Saturday. On Friday Nicole got a cake for her (she had ordered it 10 days earlier). We shared it with the hotel owner and the only student we found around the hotel. The important thing is that we had cake, and we sang Happy Birthday. Friday night there was a free concert in one of the piazzas of Beethoven's 9th conducted by Zubin Mehta. Kim and I only stayed for a portion of it, as a very loud, very drunk couple sat down next to us about a half hour into the program. Don't think they were Italian, but couldn't really tell the way he slurred his speech.

On Saturday Kim wanted to go to the beach for her birthday. The closest beach is Viareggio, on the Mediterranean, about a 45-60 minute drive from here (depends on traffic). The system involves renting an umbrella and beach chairs for the day from any of the many bath houses along the coast. We went to Bagno Zara (couldn't find a website for them) and spent 4 1/2 hours without leaving the beach. We were only a little tender, though, thanks to sunscreen and the umbrella.

For her dinner, Kim chose a restaurant that she and Nicole visited twice before, Trattoria Marione. The owner is very nice and takes good care of his customers. A great meal for a reasonable price, especially as he keeps throwing in free stuff - glasses of wine, appetizer plate of figs and salami, etc. I suspect we'll visit again before we leave town Friday.

On Sunday Nicole was pretty tired (still in bed at 10 a.m.), so Kim and I went to the nearby Tuscan town of Lucca with Gil Smith, a prof from Eastern Kentucky U. Another nice, small, walled town. The previous night there had been a George Benson concert, but we just spent our time walking around, having lunch and taking lots of pictures.

I want to tell one other story, about the San Lorenzo Market. Those of you who have been to Florence know the market. For others, it is an incredible gathering of leather, ceramics, foods, etc. Everything from cheap dollar keychains to ceramic orginals costing thousands. Well, we visited one of the food booths. Lo and behold, the guy who made our sandwich is pictured in the front of the Williams-Sonoma Florence Cookbook that my son gave me for my birthday! The people were very nice, including his daughter who worked the booth and an American ex-pat who married an Albanian and now lives in Italy. We went back a second time. He said "I'll make your sandwich" (in Italian, of course). It was wonderful. Roast pork with sauteed onions. He also handed me an open bottle of wine from behind the counter from which he invited me to help myself. Their website has lots of stuff for sale, all of it good. I'll gladly promote his business.