Lazy day in Florence

Wednesday was our last day in Florence. We decided to make it a lazy day. We started out from the hotel at about 11am and walked to the far side of piazza Santa Maria Novella. Just down the street is a pharmacy run by the church of Santa Maria Novella that is a few hundred years old. All of the recipes for the elixers, soups, soaps, perfumes, etc. were created by the friars of the church and are still used today. The pharmacy is beautifully decorated and is wonderful to see.
After lunch we headed back out into the city to wander a bit and see what some of the street merchants had to offer. Some hagling led to a new belt for me and a bag for Erica. We headed back accross the Arno and grabbed a couple fresh pastries from a small shop near the ponte vechio and sat in front of Pallazzo Pritti to eat. We spent a bit of time people watching and enjoying the beautiful weather before deciding to start walking again.
After a few hours of exploring we found a small place for dinner. The waiter took us inside where we took a spiral staircase down to the basement - the restaruant is much larger inside than it appears from the street. We shared an appetizer of Prosciutto and fresh mozzerella cheese which was so tasty. Erica had pasta with a nice pesto sauce and I had a beef stew with beans. We followed the nice meal up with some cappuccino and headed back to the hotel. It was time to pack and prepare for our next leg of the journey - Venice.
We had an amazing time in Florence.