Montecatini Terme and Florence
Our next stop

Dinner at the hotel was the first item on the agenda. I didn't photograph everyone in this session. You will have to wait until Saturday night in Rome to get the entire picture roster Carolyn, Bill and Linda.

Glenda, Bryce, Elaine, Frank and Mary, (and Jack in the back.)

Jeanie, Jack, Claudia, Barbara, and Bob.

Val, Chris, Holly and Jane giving us their attention.

Louis, Evelyn, Rhonda, Steve, Rob, Bill, Ben, JoEllen

Ricki, Thelma, Bob, Jonathan, Pat (hiding), Barbara

Susan being coy - "For Me?" Susan being ecstatic! "Thank you, all". Dianne looking on.

It was Susan Holaday's birthday - and Gus, her husband, flew in from Russia, where he had been on business.   The next morning, we all piled into our busses at 9 A. M. and were off to Florence for our first concert. The program called for leaving our concert clothes in the Medici Crypt of San Lorenzo, and then going off for a walking tour of Florence. This gave me a good opportunity to get some interior stills of this magnificent basilica.

The main sanctuary of the basilica is pictured to the right with its massive pillars creating two side sanctuaries. Below is the left sanctuary. Pointing the camera straight up and with a little luck, I was able to photograph the intricate artwork of the dome. These were taken with the digital Kodak DC290.

Cita, our guide, Jack, Gailyn

There is our guide describing something, with Louis taking down every word. He has already confirmed a fact we didn't know.

This is their version of a teleprompter. This contains the words of the choir chant big enough for the whole choir to read it at once.

This is a close up of the three statues on the Baptistery. Piazza Della Signora. To the right of this was an art class going on with an instructor advising students who were sketching. See below.

This is the baptistryacross from the Duomo.

A Modern statue you could walk through.

Niccolo Macchiavelli -- (at the top) Michaelangelo's David, (the copy)

These are two parts of the same picture. The student below is sketching the statue seen above.

There were several students being advised by the instructor seen below.

This is a large group of our chorus waiting to walk to our rehearsal and concert.

After we ate, the lights suddenly went off. When they came on, a birthday cake was in front of Elaine. Now you can all note the date and remember it next year! After dinner, we all piled into our respective busses to go back to Montecatini Terme for much needed sleep. Barbara and Sydney were our pretty bus-mates. Sydney found the Swiss Army knife I left on the bus and returned it to me. Thanks Syd. Thanks for the picture above, Louis.