Packing Up

We went through all of our things yesterday and made decisions on their futures: Either they come with us to France, they are put in the last box that we will take tomorrow to Mail Boxes Etc., or they get left here. As a result, we have two full suitcases that we will take to Poggibonsi tomorrow to mail home.

I did several loads of wash so that of the clothes we are bringing with us for our final week in France will be clean, if somewhat saggy and worn. The goal of being down to just two backpack suitcases is realistic, I’m happy to report.

Aside from packing, we had a quiet day of reading and cleaning up. We did go into town yesterday morning to have our morning pastry and coffee only to find the door of our favorite pastacceria locked and the place dark as night. The sign told us they were closed on Wednesdays. We stood there looking at the sign with our mouths open in astonishment. Closed on Wednesdays? We’ve gone there every day since we’ve been here in Certaldo and it’s never been closed. Sigh. So we walked down the street to the next nearest pastacceria and made do with their goods.

We picked up a steak at the market and cooked it on the grill last night. It might be the last meal we cook on our little grill.

We plan today to take the train to Florence where we hope to drop off the rest of our books that we’ve already read to a book exchange store near the Duomo. If we have time, we may visit a few things that we haven’t seen yet on this trip.