March 15, 2023 - Almost a washout.

Not much to report today apart from the fact that we spent most of the morning wandering around the city trying to find one of the oldest pharmacies in the world. Jacques kept saying he knew where it was but after wandering for about an hour when we arrived at our bridge, I knew we were not going to find it this morning. Apparently, it’s all the fault of the portico that I wanted to see and that was supposedly on the way. It’s not like I could have done better with my non sense of direction. Since it was past noon and we were almost at the apartment we decided to go pick up a pizza and try again this afternoon.

The portico that got me in trouble.

The pizza we had for lunch before heading out to the pharmacy

We finally found the pharmacy which is now a perfume shop on the same route that we pass every time we go to the bus station. It was worth the search. The inside has a museum and it is amazing. It was founded in 1221 by Dominican friars the year of their arrival in Florence. They used medicinal herbs grown in the monastery’s gardens to make medication, balms and pomades for their infirmary.

We were supposed to have a geocaching event, but we pushed it back to Saturday because Jacques has a dry cough and even though he is testing negative we didn’t want to take a chance. The only person who was supposed to come said that he or she couldn’t make it on Saturday so he told him or her that he could meet for a few minutes if he wanted but he or she never showed up. So, I guess we try again Saturday. 

Some souvenirs that we could buy but too big for our suitcase.

Rollande practicing taking selfies. Getting better.

In our wanderings we did stop at a pharmacy for medication for Jacques. The pharmacist gave him a box of lozenges. I think they are the same kind they gave me 10 years ago when I had a sore throat. They are doing the job. He is coughing a lot less.

We also went to the bus station to ask about tickets for San Gimignano.  We will buy them on the day that we decide to go just to be on the safe side. It is the same bus that we took to Siena except we have to make a transfer at Poggibonsi.

Since we had reservations at the restaurant that we liked so much for supper and the lozenges that the pharmacist had given to Jacques worked so well we decided to keep our reservation. Jacques wanted another steak Florentine since the 1^st one we had was overcooked. This restaurant did not disappoint the steak was cooked as he had imagined it would be and very tender. There was nothing left at the end of the meal. We also had cannoli beans in tomato sauce and the fried artichokes. It ended up being cheaper and much better, we have another reservation for next week and one for the week that we leave.

Cooked just as advertised. Very tasty and so tender. 1.2 kg steak.