| Orgy |
Well, gentle readers...
Here we are again. Florence in the winter. Cool, a bit windy, but sunny and fresh. (And just shaken, but not stirred with a tiny earthquake!)
After a pleasant but somewhat epic journey from home to here -- about 18 hours start to finish -- aboard the ever-efficient British Airways we arrived here yesterday, tired but excited to be "home." (Gave up on Alitalia after they ceased flying from Boston and kept cheerfully losing luggage...)
Pleased to see Mimi, our little garret cum penthouse apartment almost as we left her... A few new pillows, a replaced wine glass or two, new curtains and duvet in the bedroom, a new French press for coffee and... (Drum roll, please) our very own private wifi!
Eponymous with our place, Mimiwifi is fast, reliable and strong enough for live, buffer-free streaming of multiple media: from Radio Free Irwin and Suzanne on MPBN to well, not much else yet since Netflix, Hulu, Amazon and the rest of the usual suspects aren't available here. Damn that international copyright law!
Our felicitous house manager, Cecile (whose name I invariably pronounce "Si-SILL in my best Lewiston patoise) was well, horrified, I guess is the right word, when Davis and I asked for five wifi access codes. (Most guests need one? Really?) I mean, we only have two iPads, two laptops and an Apple TV, after all. Being here for more than a week requires a certain level of connectivity!
That said, powering up all these gadgets requires a little careful planning since outlets and converters seem to be in short supply. (Hmmm... Probably shouldn't use the word "short" in this context especially since our wire mating scheme isn't exactly best practice...)
Males and females, standard iPad plug, new iPhone plug, Kindle cord, remote speaker. New iPad and old cell phone. Three prong, two prong. Europe end. Voltage converter? Short cord. Surge protector. Red green white males. HDMI innie (or is it outie?). With all this matching and plugging, pushing and pulling, breeding Dutch Warmbloods seems simpler.
So Skyping, texting, surfing, emailing, downloading and streaming here we come. We promise, however to spend as much time unplugged as possible. Turns out, wine-drinking, biftecca-eating, walk-taking and espresso-sipping (not to mention cafe-sitting and shoe-buying do not require a cord.
Posted with Blogsy
Who needs Hulu or Netflix in Florence? Great photo caption. Glad to see you made it safely, and I look forward to remaining envious, reading your blog. Cheers!
Posted by: Justin Alan Childs | 01/31/2013 at 11:53 AM
Amazing that you have wifi! And great food and wine all in one package!
Posted by: Susan Bassi Brown | 01/28/2013 at 09:08 AM
You hedonistic thing. Kiss any waiters yet?! Miss you . . .
Posted by: Barbara | 01/28/2013 at 08:45 AM
Love the posts....nice to stay connected no matter how far away you are. Enjoy!!
Posted by: Martha | 01/28/2013 at 08:29 AM
Woo hoo! Glad to hear you are there and the Mimi is still standing.
Just leaving ME. Tres froid.
Posted by: Ann | 01/26/2013 at 08:34 PM
Lucky, lucky! We are still freezing here! Love the posts! They will sustain me during TAx Season.
xo
Posted by: Ellie Baker | 01/26/2013 at 10:34 AM
Glad to hear that you guys are settled in. Enjoy the red wine!
Posted by: Chris Mazuzan | 01/25/2013 at 09:34 PM
Keep them coming. Love to DC.
Posted by: larry vine | 01/25/2013 at 05:54 PM