On Piazza San Paolino, not far from the basilica of Santa Mara Novella, sits a new establishment of hotel and restaurant in an old monastery.

https://www.25hours-hotels.com/en/hotels/florence/piazza-san-paolino?gclid=Cj0KCQiA5aWOBhDMARIsAIXLlkelqjdDhbZp-P1gHwxMd4ryPHl_EDQbfY8tWYx7M5g61eoy_JgCLnwaAiCjEALw_wcB

I’ve had a meal in both the main dining room and in the bar, and both were great. The atmosphere is really great. You feel like you are in Paris or Milan, but it’s Florence!

I rarely, but sometimes, buy jewelry from the posh stores on the Ponte Vecchio. But, when I did buy a necklace and bracelet recently, I was offered an amazing view from the back of the store, right on top of the Arno.

As the year winds down, I’ve had the chance to enjoy some great films. If you haven’t seen The Book Thief or The Best Offer, I can highly recommend them!

First, keep things in perspective:

On a walk up and over the hills behind my home in Florence:

Walking home through the Giardino Orticultura, I stop to admire the Pinocchio statue:

I live on a beautiful avenue on the northern edge of Florence, and I have the enjoyment of looking out at a line of pretty plane trees that border the Mugnone, a “torrente” or what we would call a creek in the US. For the past few weeks, a few of the plane trees have been filled with a certain species of really noisy bird.

I know very little (nothing really) about birds and have no idea what species this is. But, they put on an amazing show!

Their presentation goes like this: first, thousands of them gather in one tree. They begin their song, which sounds like racket to me. All of a sudden, no matter what I have been doing inside, I realize they are at it again. This happens about sundown, or about 4 – 4:30 p.m.

They make a terrific racket for many minutes and then apparently someone sends a signal and they all stop their song. They fly away almost immediately, only to regroup a little later and begin the whole show again.

It’s interesting! I’ve been thinking of it as “rein bird games”, you know, like reindeer games? I don’t recall if this goes on all winter; I’ll try to pay attention to this this year.

At any rate, happy day after Christmas. Are you exhausted?