Greve by Heat of the Day, Florence by Night

After lunch, Liz and the girls decided they wanted to go to Greve so off we went. I felt confident the second time around especially with my navigator back in the passenger seat. Once again we parked in the first lot we found and walked in the direction of the city centre.

It was hot and sticky. If I had been by myself, I probably would have turned around after the first block.  But we continued further and happily we found a little piazza filled with shops. Because it was in the heat of the day, there weren't too many people around. After the crowds of Sienna, Florence and Piazza it felt good to walk about without throngs of tourists.

While Greve would never be on my list of places to visit, I still enjoyed it more than Pisa. As we were driving back from Greve, Acki asked if we could go back to Florence so we could see the Ponte Vecchio at night. My heart jumped at the idea. Why hadn't I thought of it myself? The idea was so much more appealing than spending a long evening at the villa even if we (I) needed the rest.

We drove back to the Villa to rest up and then made our last familiar jaunt towards Florence. As we drove down the winding road, I pulled the car off into the vineyard at the bottom of the hill just as I had been dreaming of doing since we first arrived for a few pictures.

I must admit I was a bit nervous at first, wondering if the policia would come and take us away for trespassing.

But no one came. I'm so glad we took the chance. I wish we would have done it more than once. I wish I would have taken more pictures. If I had it to do over again, I would have.

Once again, we parked at the little parking lot that had become a second home for our car and walked to the city. No longer wide-eyed tourists, we were still filled with excitement.

Somehow this trip felt different. Perhaps it's because we knew this would be our last trip to Florence.

Perhaps it was the familiarity we felt with Florence now and we were about to see it in a new light.

Whatever it was, we were not disappointed.

Without any agenda on our minds, we were free to go where our hearts and feet took us. Florence was beautiful bathed in the falling sunlight.

And in the cover of nightfall, the streets took a different feel. We ended up in the piazza drinking coffee in an overpriced cafe. It was the best night of the trip.

We didn't get back to the villa under almost 11pm. With an early morning ahead of us, we packed up and fell into bed happily exhausted looking forward to the promise of Venice.