So Tired!

I think I may have hit the wall.  I didn't go to sleep until about 11:30 last night, and woke up at 3:30.   I had been warned that the hotel was on a noisy street, but it was crazy.  I had tried to sleep with the windows open and earplug, but even at 3:30 a.m. a noisy little scooter would zip by every ten minutes or so.  Where were they going that late at night?  Anyway, I was able to drift off until about 6:30, at which time I was wide awake.  Showered and went to get dressed, at which point I realized I had forgotten to pack a second pair of pants!  No problem, unless I spill something on the ones I wore yesterday, but still.  

I'm staying in a funky little hotel down the street from where Louise and the kids are being hosted in the rectory of the American Church.  It must have been decorated in the 1970s and not touched since -- lots of dark, blobby wood.  And the worst art I've ever seen in a public space.  It looks like they went through countless sidewalk art shows and picked up the pieces no one else would buy.  Had a nice breakfast in the little dining room.  All the other guests seem to be elderly French women on a group tour.  They were all "ho hooing" to each other across the room in a quiet, well-mannered French way -- asking each other how they'd slept, concerned about one woman's leg (she seemed to have tripped yesterday).  If I had more energy I would have struck up a conversation to exercise my French, but I just didn't have the energy.

I'm headed over to the Pitti Palace in a few minutes.  This is the "Settimana della Cultura" which means that most of the museums are free, which terrifies me.  I'm sure they'll be completely overrun.   Part of me wishes they'd double museum prices while I'm here, so I'd be the only one!  (What a terrible ugly American thought, huh?).    We'll see.  Yesterday the attractions in the center of town weren't too bad.  I do think the economy is keeping tourists away, especially Americans.  We can't have seen more than a dozen American tourists yesterday, and this is April in Florence.

OK, I'm off.  I saw a cab line across the street from the hotel, and that's how I'm going to be traveling today.  I also think that there's a hot bath and an afternoon nap in my future.