This was a week of firsts here. It was Greta's first real week of school going for a full day, and she loved it. It was Gracie's first trip to Bologna and Florence, and she seems to be a real city girl.

I guess first Greta, she was around first and all, so Greta loves school, and along with it the food that they serve. She comes out around 4:00 in the afternoon completely spent, but very wound up. The inevitable happened though, she has an intestinal virus. They said that all the kids have it, which makes me wonder about handwashing and such. But, on the up side. After Salmonella this summer this stomach virus seems like nothing, thankfully. This morning she wanted to go outside and play with her ball, the outfit was put together completely by Greta.

Gracie made her trip up to Bologna, we went by train so we would not have to worry about parking and getting around, since you can not drive into the center of the city. She was a little angel the whole way up and even sat with us in an Osteria for an apertivo. The next day we took the one hour train ride (60 euros return) to Florence, where Gracie won the hearts and minds of the americans in the consulate who granted her citizenship. We just hope that the passport arrives in time. We had a really nice day walking around Florence and then in the evening around Bologna again.

The next morning we took the train back to Fermo. It seemed so small as we arrived, after being in the cities. But as always it was nice to be back in our own house. Claudio is off again tomorrow for a couple weeks in London. He is a little less then thrilled but thankfully he will be back in time for Fermoween. Greta has already decided that she would like to be a clown. I guess I need to start getting organized!