Flowers for Zoe (Florence)

And so dear reader like a modern explorer I have lost track of the days. Sadly this cannot continue forever. Particularly because we have trains to catch and before that, people to meet and ultimately jobs to which to return.

Today is Saturday, well it is here, and we are meeting Zoe for lunch. Zoe and I worked together in another lifetime, another world. She is now based in London which is far closer to Florence than Sydney. You are a most astute observer dear reader, yes the title of today's post is for Zoe. It's a song by Lenny Kravitz written about his daughter.

We had a few hours to kill this morning before lunch and weren't quite sure what to do. There were a few churches that we hadn't seen, but we were probably 'churched' up to pussy's bow. They could wait until next time.

Breakfast was the first order of the day and much like yesterday it did not disappoint. Excellent coffee and pastries and a freshly squeezed orange juice. No surprises as to where I'll be tomorrow morning.

Then it was back home to begin organising things for our eventual departure. We looked back at the map of Florence and then to our guide book - had we missed anything? The easy answer is yes. There are a couple of churches we have yet to visit, but as I said we have seen enough churches this time. We haven't been to the palaces but ... maybe next time. 

Looks inviting doesn't it?

On the map there was a fort. Surely that would be worth a visit. It wasn't far from where we are, but, hey this is Florence; nothing is far away. So, in the heat of the day with a couple of hours to waste, we thought this would be worth exploring. It must be pointed out though, that we were surprised that something that could take up a position on the map of Florence did not feature in the guide book.

Off we went. In the sun. It was closer than we thought and it certainly looked like a fort. In fact, it looked like a prison. Well, an old style prison, one that didn't mind so much if you escaped. There were big walls, guard towers and something that could have been a moat back in the day. It did have a locked gate and there was no access. Apparently it was the local convention centre. Regardless, it didn't look friendly. We walked part of the way along the wall which deposited us in a park with a fountain. I know, dear reader, a park with a fountain, in Italy, who would have thought? Feeling smug? Check out the photo ... what is that? It looks like a burst water pipe. What would Bernini have thought? I mean, this is Florence, the birth place of the renaissance.

Modern art is rubbish.

All this was a mere distraction. The main game was lunch. We strolled to the appointed restaurant and took the advice of the waiter that it was too hot to eat outside. We told him we were meeting someone for lunch and a table for three was organised in the very colourful interior  of the restaurant - lanterns, various cooking moulds, garlands of garlic, all hanging from the ceiling amid tables with throne-like, heavily embroidered chairs. Zoe arrived shortly after, somewhat perplexed because, as she wandered down the street, the waiter asked her if she was meeting someone for lunch ... not sure how he knew she was our lunch date but obviously she looked like a date and was ushered inside to where we were seated. Luckily for her and us, the match up was correct.

Lunch was a great catch up of the last six months and then we continued back at our apartment until it was time to meet up with Gina who also is touring Firenze - a perfect rendez-vous point at the bar in the Mercate Centrale where we shared some more Tuscan vino and discussed places of interest here and on other continents (we are all such jet-setters). Zoe and Gina had a dinner booking to keep so we returned to our apartment after a stroll around the neighbourhood. We will catch up tomorrow for breakfast and then decide how to spend our last day in Firenze before packing up to move onto Cinque Terre on Monday.