The noise from the nightclub was much less last night, so we more or less had a better night's sleep. I woke up at around 6 and caught up on email while the rest of the house slept.
Our first appointment of the day was a tour of Palazzi Pitti in Oltrarno, south of the Arno river. Pitti Palace had started initially as the family home to a Medici rival, but before long, the Pitti family went bankrupt and sold it to the Medicis. It's now a museum, with paintings, sculpture, and gardens. Rafaela was our tour guide, and she guided us through the main galley, pointing out her favorite pieces and answering our questions! R joined us and was awake/alert the whole time. He wasn't particularly interested in the art, but we all worked together to try to keep him entertained.
After the tour, we went to a small wine bar right across the street for lunch. This was the kind of place that I'd probably have skipped over if I were wandering town myself (in a prime location, menu in english, etc.), but Raffa suggested it, so we gave it a shot. It was delicious! W had a squid-ink gnocchi, my folks had a pumpkin flan, and Raffa and I had a chicken liver terrine with toast points (and a vin santo reduction). Yum!
After lunch I ducked back into Pitti Palace to check out the Boboli Gardens before meeting everyone for our afternoon event.
The whole family reconvened for the Artisan tour. S and H joined us too (they had passed on the Pitti Palace in favor of the Leonardo Museum). We started in a leatherworking shop, where the proprietor talked about sourcing leather, crafting goods, and how different kinds of leather are used in different pieces. Then, we went to a papercraft shop, where H and Grandma got to decorate their own sheets of paper! The real process involves natural dyes and smelly adhesives, but the shop put together a small demo system using acrylic paints and wallpaper glue that we could do without wearing respirators. H made two papers, and Grandma made one. The last shop was a mosaic and gem working shop. I missed much of this (the paper shop took longer than expected), but it also was beautiful.
After the tour was done, we said Ciao to Raffa. Half of us took a taxi home, and D, W, R and I walked home the long way, passing through Piazza Santo Spirito and Piazza della Passera, crossing over Ponte Vecchio, and then heading for home.
Once we got home, we tried to muster the enthusiasm to eat leftovers on our last night in Florence, but none of us could do it. W and I went out for dinner (tagliatelle with rabbit for me, steak for him) and ended up bringing back takeout for everyone else.
Then, W and I took H for gelato (and ended up grabbing more takeout for the rest of the gang).
By the time we ended the day, I was exhausted. I had a bit of a sore throat and my legs hurt from a whole day on my feet. I kissed H goodnight at 9.30 and was in bed myself by 9.45.
More public art!
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