Rise and Shine!

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Time to get serious...we only have 2 days left! So no more sleeping in and leaving the apartment at noon! We get extra motivated today and get up at 7:30 a.m., the earliest we have gotten up without having to catch a train/plane/taxi somewhere. Laundry is the first order of the day as packing a bunch of smelly clothes doesn't sound like fun and my favorite prego pants are filthy from their trip to Paris. Thankfully, we have a laundromat right downstairs - a huge selling point for this apartment. It costs an arm and a leg to do laundry - the folks who own the place must be raking it in. It's 3.50 Euro for a small load and 7 euro for a big one! This ain't no coin-op from San Diego!

After laundry we head to the San Lorenzo church for some sightseeing. It was the church for the Medici family and is quite beautiful inside. The exterior does not do it justice - but Gus tells me that there was a facade designed by Michealangelo, but it was never started. Bummer! The inside is so ornate with oil paintings, frescoes, bronze pulpits and an inlaid marble altar that would make Liberace jealous.

We leave the church and head to the market at San Lorenzo for some last minute shopping. Gus is stalking a leather work bag and I have some fun small stuff to procure. Now it's lunch time for sure! We decide that one last trip to Fiesole would be the icing on the cake of the trip with the beautiful views and all. We hop on our favorite bus - the number 7 - and in 15 minutes we are in 'downtown' Fiesole. We have lunch at our favorite corner cafe after perusing the Sunday antique bazaar in the piazza. Gus and I switch roles today as he gets the pizza and I get the salad. My salad was just like the one he had in Vernazza and it is perfect!

Back in Florence we head to the Piazza della Republicca to see what the Mercato Nuovo has to offer. It is a much smaller market and a little more pricey since it sits next to some of the fancy stores in Florence (Gucci, Prada, D&G, etc). And after wandering around for a bit we decide to head home and face the inevitable...packing. We both secretly hope that some magic gnomes have entered our apartment and packed for us, but alas, we had to do it ourselves. We didn't want to pack on our last day...so after a few hours of sorting, folding, smooshing and cramming, we're packed. Time for a good night's sleep for our last day in Firenze...

Buona notte tutti!

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