Good bye Fantastic Florence

What has really surprised us on so many occasions has been the number of free musical performances we've stumbled upon, walking down narrow little streets in Florence, we popping into a small church where an organist was giving a marvelous organ recital. In Assisi there was a very good choir practicing in a tiny hall, Gaudio! In one street in Florence, either someone was playing the piano extremely well or a CD was in full swing, but the music wafted out of the two wide open shuttered windows to the whole street tw floors below. Last night a man playing toccata and fued (i think thats right) on an accordian, played with such vigour, just as it should bwe played, but the beautiful sound filled the Piazza De la signoria. When we attended mass in the Duomo, the organist stamped the pedals with gusto, surprising us all as the priest procession made their way down the isle. Music is a part of life here it seems, just as art is. Its wonderful! We LOVE Florence. You can spend all day ambling with no real intent, but just soaking up the atmosphere. On our way to supper we past a small square behind the Uffizi where a guitarist and vocalist sang romantically to relaxing patrons. I couldn't help leaning over to give Carol a hug and a kiss. caitlin loved this and thought we lingered a little long in that pose. I forgot to mention that Gus and Carol were asked to collect the offering at mass. I think they did a good job!
We just spent the evening ambling along and soaking it all in. The pizza the others had was very good value by Italian standards, 5 and 6 euro each and I had a delicious spaghetti bolognaise for 6 euro. We had bread on the table we didn't have to pay for and there was no service charge. You can't sit down for a meal for less than this. The service was so friendly, Gus and Caitlin were aloud to watch their pizza being made. Everyone was so friendly towards the children and a baby with a couple next door entertained us well. It turned out we'd stumbled upon a trattoria frequented by locals, what a gem. As Laurie Lee puts it, “We walked up the banks of the Arno River under the gaze of a full antique moon!" It was especially warm last night and everyone and their dog was out on the Piazza Michaelangelo that gives one the most incredible view of the city. We didn't linger too long there, our beds were screaming at us to walk the 200 odd steps in their direction of the campsite. Wow, what a position for a campsite. This morning we took the bus down the hill to the city, down an avenue draped by Plain trees, with cyclist galore, and these were real cyclist, not commuters. Joggers too made use of the wide pavements and we passed a man chatting to a lady on a bench but between them, sitting on the bench, we're 5 Boxers (dogs). What a site!
We boarded the train to Lucca. goodbye Florence, we'd love to meet again! In the words of a Narnia song Caitlin's been singing, “We'll come back, when we're older, no need to say, goodbye!"


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