Our First two days in Florence

We sure have packed in a lot of sites during our first two days in Florence. We arrived by train on Friday and immediately hit the town in style. We hit our favorite restaurant by the Duomo and Violet and Grace bought their Italia sweaters at a cart nearby. They successfully negotiated the purchase to 30 euros down from 40 euros!

After lunch Grace, Violet and Soldaddy climbed the steps of the Duomo dome with over 500 steep inclined steps to the top. We made it to the top safely with Soldaddy being the most out of breath.

After the climb of the Duomo we headed over to the Accademia to see Michelangelo's David. We had seen pictures of this sculpture before but seeing live and in person was absolutely beautiful and amazing. We also learned a lot about the life and art of Michelangelo on this tour. Violet was particularly interested in Michelangelo's unfinished work of Prisoners. Michelangelo never finished these sculptures and they have four of them on display At the Accademia.

Saturday was just as busy. We started with a three hour walking tour of Florence. Our guide walked us tbrought the heart of the city showing us pre-Renaissance and Renaissance buildings. We learned a lot about the history of Florence and how it started the Renaissance period. We even visited a few thirteenth century churches.

The afternoon included a tour of the Uffizi Gallery. We saw Botticellis Birth of Venus and also saw his Primavera. Violet thought that Venus looked a lot like Ashley, her cousin Gary's wife. We also saw a Michelangelo, a few DaVinci's, and a room full of Raphael's. That is a lot of art for one day! But we left the Uffizi knowing that we had seen some of the worlds greatest art in a single afternoon and we are very grateful for that.

We've got a lot of photos from the last few days but have no Internet connection in our Tuscan farmhouse. But we do have a rooster that wakes us up in the morning. Hope to post the photos soon.

That's all for now!

Ciao!

Violet and Grace