Florence

And so that set me to thinking about the trip to Florence and some special moments that made the trip memorable. I'll start with Janice who pre-trip almost had to cancel. Then due to a snafu with her connecting flight from Minneapolis wound up having to take a later transfer flight from Milan to Florence than the rest of the group. Though we just barely got to know her in JFK and on the flight over, we were uniformly sympathetic and dedicated to retrieving her luggage (which made our flight even though she couldn't). Ironically, when we landed in Florence, our victory was short. We had Janice's luggage but most of the rest of the groups' luggage was left in Milan (but that, again, is a whole other story). Later that day, there was a collective and very warm welcome when she showed up at the hotel in time for our first dinner together.

When traveling to a foreign place, you see so many sights…churches, museums, statues…and they often fade or blend in your memory. The Pitti Palace and the Bargello were fabulous institutions and we were lost in their splendor while visiting, as too was the wonderful Pintoriccio library in the Santa Maria Assunta church in Siena. But memorable, too, were the afternoons we spent at the farmhouse in San Gimignano and the castle/winery in Chianti that had more to do with people and lifestyles than history. On this trip, the group camaraderie was high. We did a lot of laughing, a lot of sharing…and, there were also some interesting encounters made along the way with people outside our group. Lois from North Carolina appreciated certain of the art hanging in a restaurant in Lucca and learned from the maitre' d that the artist was local and had a gallery in town. Hopeful, and undaunted by the fact that most everything in town was closed till 4:00 P.M., Lois took off alone in search of the gallery. When we next caught up with her at the bus she had a wonderful adventure to tell us…she found the gallery closed but saw the artist's name on a nearby door and ventured up a flight stairs where she met the artist in his home. With limited to naught commonality of language, Lois managed to explain she liked his art…and he, flattered by her visit, found a sketch and signed it for her as a gift.

And so it goes when you travel. You open yourself up to all kinds of experiences and meeting all kinds of people. For me, personally, I found it was great fun to travel with 20 women. Another passage that particularly caught my eye in this book:

"We [women] move more slowly through the world,
perhaps because we are tuned to the footsteps behind us."

And that's the way it was with our group in Florence. As Kathy said, it was great to have so many "sisters" to help her decide which leather coat to buy. Another woman observed, "no matter who you sat next to at dinner or strolled beside in the street, the conversation flowed." I discovered that's what The Women's Travel Club is all about. Despite coming from so many regions across the country, it was just second nature to look after each other.

I can't wait for my next trip!

Joan Nova
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