l'ultimo da Firenze.

...the title says this is the last from Florence, but that really means the last blog post. We still have another twelve hours here. Plenty of time to enjoy what we hope will be a wonderfully memorable dinner and a smooth and uneventful departure tomorrow morning. 

Yesterday ended up being all about the sunset. One of Sara's itinerary requests was to visit the Piazza Michealangelo (high above the city on the southeast bank of the Arno with stunning views)...at sunset. We planned our day around it. well that and the food and the shopping. We started out with a revisit to a favorite shop for scarves, and then a favorite shop for handpainted leather bags. I love that we've only been here since Monday and we already have "favorite" shops!

Lunch was a new place, though, a Mozzarella Bar. Second thing I love about Florence is that they have cheese bars. We had a "tasting plate" featuring three kinds of mozzarella; we added a pesto tasting and a basket of focaccia. oh my.

After lunch, we wandered, shopped a bit more and made our way to Santa Croce in the late afternoon. This is the oldest church in the city, but I wasn't in a church mood. Francie and Sue toured...and Sara and I had coffee. The good stuff started after with a visit to the gelateria our food lovers guidebook recommended. I had salted caramel and mascarpone and it was by far my best combo (of course I can't imagine anything not being delicious with salted caramel!)

..and then the views and the climb and the sunset. This first view is just after we crossed the river; I was enchanted by the relection.

And from the piazza

The gathering on the steps was a huge part of the fun. I think the combined age of our party was significantly more than...just about everyone else - take wine and cups and cameras...and if you're not too vain, a pillow, the stone steps get hard!

...and finally the sunset.

we left the piazza just before the light so we could see the sunset reflected in the river.

I'm so glad Sara wanted to do this...like the 463 steps we climbed on Tuesday to see the city from the Duomo, this view and the accompanying experience are memories I'll always treasure. 

Today we visited Santa Maria Novella - glad I was over my pout about paying to see a church - it was beautiful.

...had pizza (back at La Busolla - our 3rd visit and still delicious) and gelato.

shopped and got back early to pack.

We have a long layover in Paris tomorrow and if there's wifi, I'll post...otherwise it'll be next week and back home. and I am really so...not ready.  Ciao!