This is the last day for Carol, Louise, Bobbie and Terry in Florence. We decided to have an easy day and just amble around Florence starting with a walk through the tunnel under the streets where you can even shop! Back up in daylight, we walked to Ognissanti (Church of All Saints) and were awed at how beautiful it was. On the way we wandered into a building that indicated that Amerigo Vespucci was born in the neighborhood and perhaps we were even on the site where he lived (everything was written in Italian). Back at the church we also went into the convent to see the wonderful 1480 fresco (painted directly on a wall) of the Last Supper by Ghirlandaio. We enjoyed the walk back home where packing was going on in the afternoon. Our "last supper" together was in the next door "ristorante" Enzo & Pietro's which we have nicknamed "Ernie & Pete's"! More later!
I HAVE SET UP A NEW PHOTOBLOG SITE FOR THE 2014 TOURS. YOU CAN STILL SEE PHOTOS FROM 2008 TO 2013 HERE. TO VIEW THE LATEST TOURS GO TO: WWW.INTUSCANYWITHPATRIZIA.BLOGSPOT.COM
Bella Boboli Giardini - Beautiful Boboli Gardens
Monday morning was liesurely after our opera adventure! I made a large pot of Tuscan "zuppa (soup)" for lunch which we enjoyed around the table in the courtyard. Then we hopped a bus across the Arno river to visit the Boboli Gardens. They are just behind the Pitti Palace where the Medici family hung their coat of arms for a couple of hundred years. The photos will show you all around - someday I'd like to see it in full bloom. That funny name - Boboli - meant "wooded area" back in the 1500's and I guess it just stuck - it is fun to say - bob-o-lee! Back at LaContessina, we had another great dinner with Carol and Louise (kind of jazzed-up leftovers from last night) - delicious again! Three meals "in" today - yay! saving euros! Tomorrow is the last day for this group then the bicyclers arrive from the north. More later!