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florence, italy…day two

our a/c works in the room so all in all it wasn’t a bad night’s sleep.  the kids had to spend the night in the first room with a crappy a/c.  they slept with the window open and woke up with tons of mosquito bites.  poor things…they’ll have a new room this afternoon, thank goodness.

continental european breakfast

first things first…a continental european breakfast.  it was as good as any…the usual – yogurt, croissants, ham and cheese, etc…healthier, at least, than bacon and eggs. 

santa maria del fiore (duomo)

we walked leisurely down to the duomo piazza again to try some morning pictures. it’s just as beautiful in the morning as in the evening. we will head back a little later though.

palazzo vecchio

we had reserved tickets for the uffizi at 9.15 but we were in line by 8.20 for tickets and had them by 8.30. they said we could go right in rather than wait for our appointed time. the uffizi is packed full with art work, sculptures and beautiful rooms. it was hard to take it all in but so amazing to see. i can’t believe we passed this by the last time! we were out by 10.30 and headed to the duomo.

inside the duomo

unfortunately, due to god’s fear of flesh, kaitlyn wasn’t allowed in the duomo because she had a LONG dress on with spaghetti straps. sad really…but their loss. she stayed outside to have a cigarette while we looked around. honestly, the inside pales in comparison to the outside. we’ve seen so many churches and this one was ok. (again, the outside fantastic!) after we had walked around inside, we went and bought kaity a scarf and then headed for the bell tower.

a demon eating a human

something like 463 stairs and we were on our way. the midway pit stop is the inside of the dome. on the way up, you’re able to see, close up, the paintings on the inside of the dome. it’s very cool. the paintings that most catch your attention are those from the rings of hell. some crazy depictions there…i’m adding my favorite as a pic here.  ( i know the pics are hard to see but if they’re too big they skew everything!)

the kids on the duomo dome

much huffing and puffing and tired legs later, we were at the top on the outside walkway. amazing views!   i have to say breathtaking even having to deal with rude tourists was nothing when looking at those  views.  i’m so afraid of heights but so awe-inspired when i see the beautiful vistas from towers such as this.  fantastic!  the going down was definitely MUCH easier.  this time, we were on a ledge above the one we entered upon.  we were right under the murals (and could have touched them if not covered in plastic) which was cool.

after the duomo…we walked over to the galleria dell’accademia to see about getting our tickets ahead of time (our appt. was at 14.30).  unfortunately, for this one, we needed to wait until our appointed time.

so it was a good time for lunch.  we found a spot just around the corner from the galleria.  it advertised a/c but when we went in a sat down it was apparent that it wasn’t on.  we quickly burned through 3 large bottles of water!  it was HOT out.  the lunch was ok…i tried rabbit roulade this time.  the waiter was nice and attentive so that was great.

beer in the afternoon

kaity still wasn’t feeling great so the kids sat in the little piazza while michael and i went to look for a pharmacy.  the spot that we thought was a pharmacy was actually a hospital museum so no luck this time.

we decided it was time for ice cream…there was another spot near the galleria so we chilled for a bit with some coffee and ice cream.  we went back to sit in the piazza after this and watched some italian kids having a waterfight.  they looked so cute , like they were having lots of fun.  a couple of them slipped a couple of times.  unfortunately, there were some rotten older teenage italian boys who cheered and clapped everytime someone fell.  brats!

david from behind

finally, it was time for david.  we were very excited!  as with everywhere else, we had to go through security.  the guard called me over and asked if i had a pocket knife in my bag.  i said i didn’t but he didn’t look convinced but let us go on our way.  wow…david was as amazing to see as we thought.  they have benches around to sit and admire david which we did.  of course there were no photos but people tried anyway and were promptly yelled at.  tyler kind of stood in the way so i could sneak a pic.  it’s from behind david but it’s a secret snap none the less.    the guide book i bought was really funny…it said you probably headed straight for david but you passed up michelangelo’s four unfinished sculptures entitled  the prisoners, (intended for the tomb of pope julius II) in your haste!  so of course we took some time to look around after that.

the curtain is hung

kaitlyn imitating art

we decided to head back to the hotel but ended up stopping quickly at palazzo medici riccardi.  it was neat but a quick tour. and now really….back to the hotel.

the kids were pretty tired so it was a good time to let them rest at the hotel.  kaity really wasn’t feeling well with the heat so i think they were all going to take a nap.  michael and i went around the corner to a little pizza place/cafe for a coffee (for me) and a beer (for michael).  when we stepped inside to pay, we noticed they had this cool old-fashioned cappucino machine; typically italian.  the wait-staff at this place were awesome, atypically polite and super nice!

cappucino anyone?