Our lunch mission complete – and totally satisfying – we head back to the Church of St. Francis Assisi, renowned for its stained glass windows. Built in the mid1200s, the Franciscan church is Gothic in style with a beautiful brick exterior. But we’re here to see the stained glass….which unfortunately is mostly behind the construction barriers blocking the Nave. Sigh. Oh well – a couple of pictures of the few windows we can see, and a chapel or two……

….and we’re back on the street heading for the Botanical gardens. Back through the old town we go – past all the churches and squares…

…until 20 minutes later we arrive at the gardens. They are quite pretty, all in bloom with spring flowers, and quite large actually. It is an enjoyable walk through flower beds and hidden lagoons with statuary. The beer and wine at the cafe is nothing to sneeze at either!

Then it is back to the hotel to prepare for our farewell dinner. Wow. I’ve said it before, time really is flying by!

The dinner is a smashing success. We sat with Jane and Hans and Pam and Megan (the mother/daughter travel team) and had an absolute blast. The first giggle-fest was when the waitress announced that the restaurant had no beer. What? No! We had all been joking around all day about the fact that tonight we will actually get 3 glasses of beer or wine for our final dinner – not just the normal 1 glass per person. It was a highly anticipated feature of the evening – but now – this! Oh no! We even offered to run around the corner and buy beer for the restaurant to give to us – they could charge us a surcharge. But no go. Not happening. So the boys at the table gave in and ordered wine. Then when it was poured, it was poured in a very small amount, to which Hans deadpans, “Is this for me to taste?” Um, no, that’s your pour. The ladies at the table were crying we were laughing so hard.

Then it was time for the food, which was excellent. Beet soup poured over goat cheese and basil olive oil, fabulous pork loin steaks smothered in a yummy sauce and a nice cheesecake with ice cream for dessert.

But to be honest, the star of the show was Jane. She and Hans collected postcards all through the trip, then gave them out to everyone in our group as awards for some behavior they had done. It was priceless, and so sweet and so thoughtful! I got the “Home? Why would we want to go there??” award, while Ed got the “Why ride when we can walk?” award. Keepsakes we will always treasure. Next was the group picture taking….

And then it was all done but the bus ride back to the hotel. As it turned out, none of us really wanted it to end, so we commandeered a huge table in the bar in the hotel and had drinks all around. It was a lovely way to end a perfectly wonderful trip.

Tomorrow – it will be the start of our next adventure in Ireland.