Florence

Florence, the home of the Renaissance, is a spellbinding city - it is easy to see why many people call it their favorite location in Italy. It is a walkable city and we have walked from one corner of it to the other... I have the blisters on my feet to prove it! Soon after arriving and getting settled in our hotel, we made our way to the Galleria dell'Accademia which houses Michelangelo's David. He was truly spectacular and words and pictures do not come close to describing that brilliant work of art! Of course, photo's were not allowed in the museum but I later took photo's of a replica of the statue in Piazza della Signoria. The process of sculpting out of massive blocks of marble was not as I had envisioned at all - some unfinished works by Michelangelo evidenced that since portions of a figure were complete and entire sections of stone hadn't been chiseled at all. Amazing. We then went to the Duomo Gothic cathedral and Baptistery and later stumbled upon an arts and crafts outdoor market. Sunday we went to the Uffizi Gallery which we were completely mesmerized by. There are astounding works of art in that museum and our minds were numb by the time we left 4 hours later. We went back to the Piazza and had lunch, listened to music, admired the statues and ignored the beggars. We followed Rick Steve's Renaissance walk, went along the Arno River to Ponte Vecchio. Firenze is a captivating city - I could definitely come back here!