Italian Honeymoon, part XII: The Most Romantic Evening

Our last day in Florence, we spent strolling the streets and visiting the Uffizi and Academia art galleries.

E and I both only have a moderate appreciation for art, so we tried to space things out and took other traveler's advice on seeing key pieces in the musuems, rather than trying to see it all.

That evening, we headed back up to Michaelangelo Plaza, where we were a couple days earlier...but not before stopping at central market. We picked up 15 Euro worth of meats, bread and cheese and just let the woman at the counter pick out a few things for us. Then we stopped by another counter and picked up pesto and olive tapenade [to dip the bread in] and some red wine.

Just as the sun was setting, we hiked back up the stairs



set up our little picnic in the northwest corner of the plaza, away from most of the sightseers.

well, E set up while I took a self-portrait

We enjoyed what may have been my favorite meal in Italy...

Then we checked out the view:

drank wine



and chatted and smooched while we watched the sun sink, and city lights come alive.

It was a totally magical night.

I can only end with this:

"For us to go to Italy and to penetrate into Italy is like a most fascinating act of self-discovery - back, back down the old ways of time. Strange and wonderful chords awake in us, and vibrate again after many hundreds of years of complete forgetfulness." --D.H. Lawrence