Italy Day 5: The major sites of Florence

Beth and I woke up early and left the hotel at 8am to go see The David? The famous Michelangelo statue.

We saw the whole museum quote quickly. There was a room full of marble statues and casts. 

And a section on the history of musical instruments. We saw a Stradivarius violin 300 years old .

Back at the hotel we gave Ally a pen with The David on it. She was not pleased to have a full anatomically correct naked man on her pen:

Then it was beauty shop time. 

Yes, I curled Beth and Ally and my own hair.

We took a taxi downtown to a lunch spot reccomended on the Food Tour. They had pigeon on the menu. Gross. We did not eat that but instead had other yummy food. 

I should note that the taxi ride was a highlight of the day for Ally. Meanwhile I was in the front seat with my eyes closed for part of the time. Crazy ride thru pedestrian areas the taxi honking at tourists. It was an experience.

Pasta with butter for Ally, burrata filled ravioli with a walnut pesto for me!

Beth had gnocchi and a bruschetta with anchovies. Becky had a cheese and pear tortalini. 

Becky did not like the anchovies.

Beth loved them.

Espresso #5 for Beth.

Ally had a lemon Italian soda and enjoyed it!


Then it was off to the Doumo. A huge cathedral, the 3rd largest in Europe.

Gotta do a handstand. Note the tourists watching.

It was so big.

Beth and Becky took turns waiting in line. We didn’t book ahead so we had to wait. It was over an hour. But Ally and I toured the museum while they waited.

You have to cover your shoulders and knees to enter cathedrals in Europe. This is Beth dressed to enter.


Another amazing building.

After we exited the church there is the bell tower, it’s the building Ally is doing a handstand in front of a few pictures above. It’s a 411 step climb to the top. Beth got Ally to do it with her.

Ally took this picture of Becky and I from above - that is us on the end of the bench.

That’s Ally’s scorpion from atop the bell tower.

One last selfie from the top!



Climbing down.

It was leg muscles that got them up and down but look at these strong fit girls!


Becky took this picture of the dome while we waited for the climbers. I love the clouds and the light.

Ally was pretty wiped after the tower. She asked to sit in the shade so we did and they drank water and then we set out to find some gelato.

The gelato was good but even better was the lemon granita Beth got. Ally ended up consuming most of it. Granita is Italian water ice. 

We then walked to the famous Ponte Vecchio bridge. 







We walked for a while longer to try and see the Boboli gardens but we were hot and tired so we took a taxi back to the hotel. Ally hilariously recreated Becky’s pose from a few days earlier.

After a break in the air conditioning Becky and Ally headed to the hotel pool for a swim before dinner.

At dinner I ate a fried zucchini blossom. It was delicious that is me rolling my eyes in delight. Ally enjoyed fried chicken. We went to the same restaurant Beth and Becky went to the night before. Everything was delicious.