Sarah's Birthday

After our trip to the Palazzo Vecchio and the Brancacci Chapel we went to a little restaurant called something like Osteria di Santo Spirito. It was out in the piazza and looked pretty nice. The food was really good but our server was terrible. What seems to us to be bad service is not really out of the ordinary here, things are just different in Europe. But our server was just plain bad. He ignored us pretty blatantly and even left to go talk on the phone and smoke a couple of cigarettes about thirty feet from us while we needed refills and then our check.
After the delicious but irritating lunch we went home and watched the closing ceremonies of the Olympics. They were really wierd. Lots of crazy dancing. I really don't know what was going on. But I bet someone was paid a lot of money to choreograph it.


Later, Sarah, Kellin, Sean, and I met Dan, Lara, Clark, and Tom at La Taverna for Sarah's birthday dinner. The food was great and there was a lot of wine and lemoncello going around.


Things got a little goofey after all of the lemoncello. Actually, with this group things get a little goofey whether there is alcohol involved or not. Above, Kellin, Lara, and Sarah discuss their symposium topics. Or maybe not.


Tom looks dreamy as Clark tells a story. Dan avoids the camera.


Sarah's shoes were hurting her so I gallantly offered to let her wear my sandals on the way back. Pretty smart, huh? I avoided all cuts, abrasions, and stubbed toes, but I had some impressive blisters the next morning.


Rather than calling it a night, we bought more wine and moved to the steps in front of Santa Croce. Tom entertained us for while. In the dark picture above Kellin and Sarah try to hold an intellectual conversation with Tom.