No lie-in this, our last, morning. We had to be fed and ready to go at 8:00. Ouch! It was actually a terrific strategy since it got us to the Uffizi Gallery before the hoards arrived. The streets were empty on the walk to the gallery which gave us a different views of the beautiful buildings. We had a terrific guide (and headsets) who talked us through painting in the Renaissance and then showed us major pieces. When we saw Madonna and Child, the guide explained that she was portrayed, per the fashion of the day, with blond hair. Florentine women wanting to follow the trend bleached their hair with horse urine. No mention of how the urine was collected. We also learned that a major philosophical shift was toward free thinking, self actualization, and building a personal legacy … so portraiture was suddenly an OK thing to do. We saw portraits of women with very light skin, a sign of status showing they had no need to be in the sun, and high foreheads as the fashion was to shave if your forehead was not substantial enough. Art became collectable, so paintings began to be painted on canvas (from old sails sometimes) rather than wood, so they could be shipped to out of town customers. It was a great time to be an artist or pretty much anyone who wanted to take an out-of-the-box approach to just about anything.

We were on our own from the time the tour broke until 7:20 when we met for our last supper as a group. We six had a wonderful lunch, walked the streets, popped in and out of shops, and then headed back to the hotel to freshen up for dinner. I use the term lightly since no one could pull off a new, fresh look if they tried; we are Way passed that by the last day. Dinner was loads of fun and delicious. The lady next to me told me that the group referred to us as ‘the family.’ We were told by other couples that it was fun to see us having such a good time. Dan and Emily (Shot Daughter) ended the evening with limoncello shots Again. I don’t know what we are going to do about that. ;~} Rose, a lady who needed help with her luggage due to a knee problem, gave Matt a bottle of wine since he was always making sure to help when she couldn’t manage for herself. The evening ended with Italian farewells which amount to a kiss on each cheek … men and  women alike … and lots of laughs.