I went back and looked for my trip journal to try and refresh my memory but didn’t find it. Buried in the basement someplace I’m sure, but I think I had the date wrong. It must’ve been '97.
As well as I can recall, I met very few Americans while I was there. There was a small group I met at dinner one day while in Florence, and then a woman who was friends with the Dean of the college where I graduated. We chatted over lunch in the piazza in front of the Pantheon when she noticed I had my sketch book out. Didn’t meet another person who spoke English until the last full day of my trip and he was from Thailand. His dad was English. Found him in an Irish style pub while watching football.