Day 8: Firenze and Lucca

Thursday morning found us back on the bus heading to Florence, again, but this time just for some shopping. We went into the famous leather store, Peruzzi. I almost bought a beautiful red iPad cover but it was 180 euros. Yikes!

We'd been warned not to wear any expensive jewelry to Italy so Dottie and I both wore just a simple silver chain. We decided to buy charms for them. The jewelry dept. of Peruzzi had just what we were looking for. This is the one I bought:



The picture doesn't do it justice. It's much prettier in person.

Other than that, we just browsed around. We stopped for pizza:









They all looked so yummy! I had mine with mozzarella, fresh tomatoes, and fresh basil. And it tasted yummy, too!

We found a shady spot to eat our gelato, lemon for me this time, and saw this couple strolling down the street:



We were happy to get back to our hotel early enough to have a nice swim before changing and going to Lucca for the evening.



Lucca is an ancient walled city. We had a local tour guide who gave us the history of it but, you know what?, I've forgotten most of it. After awhile



these



and these



and these all looked alike. So my mind and eye wandered to simpler, more everyday sights.



Like these ladies all sitting in a row.



This turquoise bicycle leaning against a fat tree.



This guy taking a picture. I was going to crop him out, but the photo just didn't look right without him. He lends balance and ordinariness to the beautiful doorways.



This warm, inviting window scene.



This laundry hanging out to dry.



The simplicity of this.



And watching the sun set between buildings from our outdoor cafe table.

I bought postcards of the major buildings; I didn't need to take photos of them. These are the sights I really came to Italy to experience!