Italy Day Quattro

We went back to Florence today. It was raining again and we had lots of trouble getting the car parked and finding where we wanted to go.

The first item of the day was to see Michelangelo's David, housed in the Academia. The statue was incredible! When you look at pictures you have no idea how huge it will be. It's 15 feet tall. The gallery is really pretty and the statue is lit very well. I had no idea how impressed we both would be with it. The gallery had other paintings and a few of Michelangelo’s unfinished sculptures, but David was the star of the gallery.

We had a fairly simple lunch--pasta with tomato sauce and espresso. Next was the street market. Holy cow! Vendor after vendor of nice leather goods, scarves, and all your typical tourist junk. We bought lots of all of the above and loved every minute of it.

With more than 100 euro of leather goods in tow, we then thought it would be a good idea to climb to the top of the Duomo. This activity would prove just how out of shape we were. Old people passed us (not Scott). I was sweating and highly embarrassed at what a wuss I was. In my defense, the stairway was very narrow, steep, and difficult to climb.

Halfway up, there was a walkway around the inner circle of the dome for an excellent view of the artwork and the stained glass.

Very impressivo. The painting of the dome is of the Last Judgment and depicts the return of Jesus.

Some souls frolic in heaven, some souls beg to get in, while others face their fate in hell. The bottom edge of the dome is of hell with lots of demons and Satan. I'm pretty sure the painting was made to scare small children...and me.

By the time we reached the top of the Duomo, we were totally out of breath and will power, but when we walked through the door to the outside of the dome, it was totally worth the climb. We fell in love with Florence from that viewpoint. It was so beautiful and so worth it.

Once our legs returned to a state of muscle and not jelly, we went to the Ponte Veccio, the old bridge that is loaded with jewelry stores.

We stayed long enough to realize we didn't want to buy anything (and couldn’t afford anything), took a picture, chatted it up with some fellow Texans and began the excruciatingly long walk to the car.

We ate dinner in Greve. It's a cute Chianti town that we fell in love with. It's about a mile from the agritourismo. We ate at Gallo Nero and it was delicioso!!!! Best food of the trip! Great wine, great pasta, great service. Our waitress's family owned the restaurant and her grandma made the ravioli that I ate.

We returned to the agritourismo, visited with Mossimo and Eva, and then went to sleep.