Yesterday we had our last day in Florence. We climbed up to St Miniato Church, which is just past the Michelangelo lookout. As Rick Steves said 'According to legend, the martyred St. Minias— this church’s namesake— was beheaded on the banks of the Arno in A.D. 250. He picked up his head and walked here (this was before the #12 bus), where he died and was buried in what became the first Christian cemetery in Florence. In the 11th century, this church was built to house Minias’ remains'

The church is very different from others we have visited in Florence . It has a very high ceiling, and a lot of marble columns inside (more like the churches we have seen in other cities). The crypt has St Minias' tomb, and if you use a lot of imagination, you can see the hand holding up the head (just joking!!).

We visited all our favourite coffee places, saying goodbye to the people who have worked diligently with Garth to get his pronunciation right, and we had our last doppios in every one of the places (double espressos). Garth was fairly buzzing by the time he finished his last one! Then home to pack, eat pizza, and finish all the alcohol in the apartment. Then I was fairly buzzing......

This morning we caught the little D bus to the train station, traversing most of the streets in Florence, then we caught our first train (to Bologna). This one was a Frecciargento which goes up to 280 kms an hour, has wifi, a coffee trolley etc. Very luxurious! Then we changed to a FrecciaBianca which only goes 200kms, and had no wifi or coffee trolley. Boo hoo, given we were on this one for 3 hours. But the train hugged the coast most of the way to Pescara, and the blue sea and sands looked very inviting after the buildings of Florence.

At Pescara we changed to another train for the final leg of our journey. This last train went inland along a river valley at quite a speed, with the mountains towering along each side, until it arrived at Sulmona. Our B&B in Sulmona, Il Marchese Del Grillo, is absolutely beautiful. The room is spacious, well fitted out with some quite old period furniture, and everything we could possibly need for the next three days. Off for a quick lap of the town now, then we will take our pick of the numerous restaurants for dinner.