Firenze!

Firenze is Florence, just how the Italians say it. We only spent one very busy day in this city.

The first location we went was the Accademia. The deserving main attraction of this museum shadows everything else in it, almost literally. Seventeen foot tall "David" by Michelangelo is stunning. Not only the sheer height, but also the lifelike detail. We loved David, unlike most of the other sculptures of him, where he looks smug, in this one he appears to be sizing Goliath up. Art Professors believe that is because this sculpture is to be before the actual slaying occurred, but Michelangelo hasn't confirmed that to us just yet..

The Accademia doesn't allow photos, and the outside isn't impressive at all, so I have nothing photographic to share with you from the experience. 

I do, however, have this picture of the Duomo. 

It's huge, this is only the very, very front. The colorful detail on it, and the underlying white, made it my favorite building in Florence, and at that time, Italy. Of course, only the exterior. We didn't actually go in, it was closed by the point that we had time. 

We then went to the Bargello museum. That is a collection of the sculpture and art of the Medeci Family. It has a lot of Medieval history and such, but for me, it pretty drull quickly. Nonetheless, we saw every bit of it. 

Also, no pictures supposed to be taken. It didn't seem strictly enforced, since mum took a lot, but either I'm a rule follower or none of it interested me enough to photograph. One of the previous isn't accurate..

At lunch, we actually ran into Gina! 

We then went on to the Uffizi. 

The Uffizi is wonderful! Huge, and slightly confusing because random rooms were closed due to renovation, but it was filled with gorgeous masterpieces around every corner. We had a lovely time there. There are no pictures there either, surprise. So this is a pretty boring post, sorry. 

That night we had a recommended steak Florentine. It. Was. Enormous. 

That plate is bigger than my head! 

It was very tasty. 

We then went back to the apartment, relaxed for awhile, and got sleep so we could catch our train the next morning. 

We went to our church meeting early the next morning just outside of Pisa. 

The only people who attend that one is a sweet family with four young kids, and a wonderful lady from Romania. Every week the lady brings a homemade chocolate cake to the children. We had a lovely meeting, just the five of us. The family speaks English and Italian, so they could translate for the other woman. 

That lady rode back with us for some time to her stop before Rome, it was a very delightful experince. We greatly enjoyed her company.

Then we arrived in Rome fairly early, found our apartment, and got oriented for awhile. 

And thus ends the Florence story. Sorry for the lack of pictures. 

Until later,

~Roaming Rapunzel