Look at the stars see how they shine for you

After a fulsome Florentine day of musing in museums with Greg and Linda (a couple of hours in the Uffizi enjoying Botticelli's Birth of Venus and Primavera (Springtime) - see both of these favs below - among many early and high Renaissance paintings) and another hour plus at the Galileo Museum of Science (where we saw Galileo's personal telescopes [also below] and one of his fingers [eeuuww: his students thought so much of him they preserved this digit like a saint's relic], we were fully museumed-out. We geared down to walk through central Florence for some shopping (bare necessities for the Melands) and some Italiano people-watching (world class!).

Our friends, you see, have been gamely carrying forth with everything we had planned despite the fact that their baggage has been lost by Delta/Alitalia and they are working with very few clothing and toiletries resources. We found a number of items to tide Linda and Greg over. They have only the clothes they flew over in and few other vitals packed in their hand luggage. We are hopeful that their bags will appear in the next day or so.

After enjoying the streets and piazzas of Florence at dusk, just when it feels as though everyone in the entire city is out walking around, meeting, greeting, dipping in and out of stores and cafes, listening to the buskers in the squares, we found a charming spot for dinner in a restaurant with a view of the Ponte Vecchio. After a fantastico meal of several courses, we walked back to our parking spot which is almost straight up hill via several series of steps for about 12 minutes of lively exertion.

As we, full of pasta and bellissimo sauces, ascended to the hill above Florence we looked up to see the stars shining down on us, Orion and the Dippers most prominently, and were blessed by the celestial illuminations shining overhead after a beautiful day spent gazing at paintings of celestial creatures and Galileo's own telescopes.