Florence, Italy cont.

After what proved to be a rather exciting first night in Florence, we were up and at 'em pretty early Saturday morning. No time for hangovers or sleeping in when you are only in Tuscany for 2 days. The weather was absolutely perfect and it definitely was not hard to climb out of bed after only a couple hours of sleep. A few steps away from our hostel, we were graced, once again, with views of what most people consider to be the crowning architectural jewel of Florence, the domed cathedral, Santa Maria Del Fiore, known as The Duomo.

Staring at pieces of architecture like this NEVER gets old. Our next stop was to purchase tickets to see Michelangelo's, "David," located in the Accademia Gallery. Our hostel location could not have been more perfect because the gallery was about a 5 minute walk from our hostel. Our entry time was not until 3pm so we decided to just follow the River Arno and discover just what makes Florence the "cradle of the Renaissance." We didn't see any special monument or statue that I need to explain so I will just let the pictures do the talking.

Huge market with lots of local venders. They were selling anything and everything you could possibly think of...and at a great price. No need to barter here.

It was difficult to capture a good picture in between all of the tall buildings due to the lack of sunlight.

Looking across the River Arno

Laura, I thought you would appreciate this.

We continued to stroll down the river and then crossed the bridge you see in the above two pictures. The bridge was huge and had awesome little shops and boutiques located on either side.

A bride crossing the bridge with her new husband.

This is the view looking down the River Arno from the bridge.

The view to the left from the bridge. A cute little cafe underneath all of the greenery.

town square you enter after crossing the bridge

After enjoying an alfresco lunch, we headed back towards the outside market I mentioned above. We decided to buy some beers and pop a squat outside Accademia Gallery and wait for our 3pm reservations.

I do wish we could have taken pictures inside the gallery but unfortunately, there was a scary looking lady inside making sure everyone obeyed the rule of no picture taking. I do love to look at art but I by no means love to "study" it. The gallery was huge but the honest truth was that I just wanted a glimpse of the David. It was an incredible and much larger than I had pictured it. The detail was definitely that of a seasoned sculptor and it was hard to believe that one man could create such a masterpiece. The other interesting part of the gallery was a room off of the David where you could view partially completed sculptures Michelangelo was commissioned to build for a pope's tomb. Apparently, the pope that commissioned him could not make up his mind on how he wanted the statues to look so Michelangelo quit due to the popes inconsistency. There were 7 or 8 of them and it was really neat to see the steps it takes to create a sculpture of such magnitude. It looked as though he focused on completing one side of a statue (ie. the front) before even touching on the the other side (ie. the back). I really did make a huge effort to take in the rest of the art but I just could not get into it. It is interesting to see how well a 600 year old painting can be preserved, though. After viewing the David, it was back to hostel to shower and get ready for the evening. We made 7:30 dinner reservations at a great little Italian restaurant that was recommended to us. We did, however, decide, that we wanted to enjoy some cheese, crackers and wine down be the River Arno before hand. Like the saying goes...."When in Rome Florence." :)

Sun setting over the river

It definitely was not the fanciest picnic but it was just perfect for us. We had brie, crackers and a local white wine.

I did not, however, get any pictures from dinner but we all enjoyed a pasta sampler. It was really really good but I do have to give props to my mother. I think Eric and I were both in agreement that Italy's spaghetti sauce has got nothing on moms!! There sauce lacked any real depth or taste but maybe that is the way the real stuff is supposed to be. Either way, I gave Italy's sauce a 7 out of 10. Mom's is an easy 10 out of 10. We enjoyed 3 bottles of wine that only cost 5 euro each. Surprisingly, Italy did not break the bank. We called it a night after leaving dinner much later than anticipated and headed back to the hostel. Overall Florence, Italy was an incredible city rich in history, art and wine. There is such an effervescence and excitment for life over here that you just don't see back in the states. There is something about the fresh air and beautiful skies here in Europe that is really doing me a some good.