My final post on Italy, after the tour is over....

St. Francis wore this!!!

Tuesday, June 12 was the final day of the tour, and the five of us took the train back to Florence; Sarah barely made it off the train after she settled us in! In Florence we said goodbye and went our separate ways. I hadn't looked for a hotel until we were in Perugia, and a terrible time finding a hotel for less than $1000 a night in Florence at short notice!  I ended up staying at the Hotel Veneto Firenze, in a quieter neighborhood a little further from the city center.  It was not as nice as the other hotels on the trip; my favorite part was the tiny shower, so small that if you dropped your soap you had to turn off the shower and open the door to bend over to reach it... but the bed was comfortable and the air conditioning worked, so I was happy.

During my last day and a half, I visited the following, and photos from these days are here.

First, I visited the Leather School, where students from all over the world learn how the Italians work in leather. There's always students on duty working, so you can watch how it's done, and an amazing selection of leather purses at good prices. The school was founded by the friors at Santa Croce after WWII to teach orphans a trade, and is in a fabulous old building... I was tempted there to buy a purse there, and in some on the leather shops in the area, but managed to hold out for hours until I was compelled to buy one by a street vendor.  Italian leather is the best!

Angel wings!!!

I went from there into the museum at Santa Croce, but not the church; my eyes were tired of Renaissance ecclesiastic art, plus I was in a sleeveless shirt and forgot my shawl... but check out the belt and clothing fragments from St. Francis...

Closeup of tablecloth

The Church of San Marco was fabulous! Beautiful frescos, interesting tomb, and the organist was practicing... The museum behind it was outstanding.  The upstairs monk's cells all had frescoes in them with religious themes to encourage contemplation. Two particular things struck me here; first, the angels wings look a lot like marbled paper and I particularly enjoyed looking at them. Second was the aha gob-struck moment when I saw more than one painting the included a tablecloth woven  in patterns that Marta had said were Perugian, and that looked just like what she had woven! On some of the other photos, you can clearly see the eye pattern.

Angel wings, eternal...

I arrived at the Museum of Archeology at exactly the right time to view the normally closed 3rd floor... I'm not sure why it was closed, but it was just one woman, one guard, and me. Their collection of pre-Roman, Etruscan, and Roman antiquities was stellar; they have much of the archeological relics the Medici family collected over the centuries.  In the courtyard, which was sadly only open on weekends, are mock-Etruscan barrow-type graves. Check out this lion. And it seems like angel wings hadn't changed much since Roman times...

I wandered about, my brain full, and wandered into the beautiful Orsanmichele... No photos from there. Finally, pizza, Chianti and gelato at My Sugar for dinner, then I said goodbye to Florence.

These posts are late coming out, nearly a month; and I wonder what I missed by not posting as I went? In return, I certainly gained some perspective.  For the next trip, I'll come armed with a keyboard!