Handwritten Einstein note up for auction in Jerusalem

JERUSALEM (AP) - A handwritten note by Nobel-winning scientist Albert Einstein is up for auction in Jerusalem.

The note was written to a young woman who apparently caught his eye during a trip to Italy.

Winner's Auctions and Exhibitions says Einstein was visiting his sister in Florence in October 1921 and learned that a young chemistry student named Elisabetta Piccini lived in the apartment upstairs. It says the 42-year-old Einstein was interested in meeting the shy 22-year-old woman, who was the daughter of a famous chemist, but she turned him down.

When Einstein left Florence, he left the signed note, in German: "To the scientific researcher, at whose feet I lay and sat for two full days, as a friendly souvenir."

The phrase "to lie at somebody's feet" is an expression of affection in German.