Ciao Firenze. There is much love.

Things I will not miss about Florence:

• Having no power or water in our apartment....MULTIPLE times.
• The rain that seems to settle on the city for days at a time in the fall
• Sad water pressure
• Croissants made with oil instead of butter. That is just. so. wrong.
• Unsalted bread (a tuscan thing)
• Vodaphone

Things that I will deeply miss about Florence:

1. Martin tossing off a pithy comment or witty remark to me on his way to the bathroom in the morning. Always nice to laugh when you start you day.
   
2. Pear, Peccorino and Honey.
3. The people. All of them!
4. The sun. When it was out.
5. The Arno...pretty much all the time.
6. Turning a corner and seeing the Duomo looming majestically in the background.
7. Gelato. GELATO. Gellllaattttooooooo!
8. When asked: "How long are you visiting?" by locals, being able to say off-handedly "Oh, I live here" and seeing the shock on their faces. :)
9. The lifestyle. Italians, they know what is important in life.
10. Hosting 10 people that we met in Florence for Thanksgiving, and really being able to see that we made a life there.
    

So, I am writing this last blog posting from my couch in DC. I made it home last night after 18 + hours of travel on Monday (not counting the travel on Sunday from Florence to Milan). I think we would have found it harder to leave if not for the weather (deep rain the last three days), the fact that our apartment became unlivable again on Saturday while were trying to pack up before our last night in the city, and just general overall chill from the lack of heat. Spending our last few days in Italy homeless made the transition from Italy to DC less difficult, I think that we both missed central heating and a place to put our things. However, we did go out with style, and we both agreed that Thanksgiving night was probably our high water mark. When we first arrived I told Martin that my secret dream was to host a thanksgiving party for people that we would meet over the course of the next few months, because that would show that we really had made friends and built a life in Florence. However, we were not entirely sure we would succeed because of our short stay and all the travel we were planning. So, to have 10 people come over and say that they were honored, well....that was truly amazing.

So, a big final thank you to everyone we met, and everyone who came and visited and made our time in Florence magical, and everyone who followed me on this blog (Save Tall Dave!). Your comments meant the world!! And finally, a huge thank you to the city--I think I am in love with Firenze.

Ciao. And hopefully, until we meet again.
Christie