My only disappointment in Florence was that you can no longer add a lock to the decorative fence that surrounds the Cellini bust on the Ponte Vecchio. Local tradition (a not very old one) holds that if to add a lock and then to toss the key into the Arno River your love will last forever. We came prepared with a lock and key, but when we got to the Ponte Vecchio there was a sign prohibiting the practice. The city council put a ban in place in 2006, because couples were putting locks on faster than the city could cut them off. No romantics there. For more local customs read about Porcellino.

Favorite Animal Statue -- Florence On the south side of the Mercato Nuovo there is a bronze statue of a wild boar with a very shinny snout. His name is Porcellino. He was sculpted and cast by Pietro Tacca in 1612, and is a copy of a Greek marble statue. Local custom says that if you rub his nose and toss a coin into the grating at his feet, it will ensure that you will return to Florence again one day. Needless to say, I helped polish Porcellino’s snout.

On the bus heading south from Florence to Rome, Susanna entertained and educated us on what it was like living and growing up in Rome. We were expecting another lunch stop at an Autogrill, but Karin surprised us again and asked if we would like to have lunch in a hill town instead. I was disappointed for a second or two, because I really liked the Autogrill, but lunch in the hill town of Orte turned out to be an excellent adventure.

Orte sits on a knoll overlooking the valley below and has picturesque buildings, narrow streets but no famous tourist attractions. Its designers never anticipated modern tour buses, so the bus dropped us off nearby and we walked about one-half mile up the hill and into the town center. On the viaduct to the town gates, we all posed for a group photograph, and an obliging elderly gentleman took our picture for us.