We both felt pretty foggy with jet lag Sunday morning. We had to go to a grocery store for a few basics–olive oil and toilet paper especially, so we got that done, having coffee on the way at the Bar Cibreo. It’s funny–it’s a fancy place but “un caffe” still costs 1 Euro like everywhere else, and it’s very good.
We had a plan with Elio to get the 13:55 train to Pontassieve. We took about an hour to wander through Florence heading in direction of Santa Maria Novella. I looked at belts and aprons but bought nothing. We came across the strange building covered with what seemed to be copies of dollar bills:

We got off the train to see smiling Eiio ready to go. We drove trough his town of Rufina stopping to ge picnic supplies of the local schiacciatta (think a cross between pizza and focaccia) up into the mountains, over a beautiful pass to see the view. The air cooled off and the trees and flowers change as we ascended. We headed for a beautiful local abbey, built in 1036! We walked into the church. Elio kept referring to “these funny monks” and one reason was because of this sign:

It essentially says–even though God cam communicate with you in many ways, he’s not going to call you on your cell phone, so turn it off.
We then walked into this huge idyllic, meadow, classically lovely with tall soft grasses and lots of little daisy-like flowers.

We sat and talked and enjoyed the schiacciata, which Elio didn’t eat because he is on a strict Paleo diet (and for the Elio fan club–he looks fantastic!)
The he took us to the old Rufina winery to walk around:

And then into town to his friend’s bar/gelato place. It was cool to see the fondness Elio has for his home the the people.
Then we walked a bit in the town of Pontassieve to see the Roman bridge over the Sieve river, which forks off the Arno.

and the gate:

Elio took us back to the station and seemed worried we wouldn’t make it home but we did, easily, getting off the train at Campo di Marte station. Got caught in a little rain on our way but we were still smiling.
Made dinner in the apartment–pork and zucchini and bread from the Saturday market and finished off the vino sfuso.
It was a perfect day because we didn’t have to think about logistics we could just sit back, with our jet lagged brains, and appreciate whatever Elio showed us and the wonderful conversations we had.