06 01 2022 Florence!

Today was so busy! Doors of Paradise, lucky pigs, and living statues! We had breakfast at the hotel buffet this morning. It was good, although the one in Venice offered a bit more. But our room here is larger and the bed is better. By 9 am we were out and headed to the center of the city where we met today's tour guide.  The main thing I recall her telling us is that most Italian cities developed their own form of the Italian language and that Florence has the best one. 

We went back to the center of town and the Accademia Gallery. It's an amazing museum which, among other things, is home to Michelangelo's David! This is beautiful, magnificent, everything it should be. 

The details that Michelangelo was able to carve in cold, hard marble are simply amazing. Nothing overdone, nothing missing, just perfectly wonderful.

Once again, thought, the changes that 23 years have wrought are noticeable and not necessarily good. Last time we were here this statue was in a room by itself.  There was nothing to detract from it. This time it's in an area by itself but on both sides are lots and lots of other statues. I don't think that's an improvement. 

Nevertheless, the other statues are wonderful. Even Michelangelo's unfinished statues are mesmerizing. 

I was surprised to see, among the antiquities, a lovely statue of Mary Tighe, an Irish poet who lived from 1772 - 1810. 

In an another room were a series of busts of Michelangelo. Very pensive looking guy.

We walked over to the Cathedral of Santa Maria, which is so big and so complex that I never could get a good photo of it. It just goes on and on, and every bit of it is ornate.

Across the street from it is the Baptistry which is most famous for its doors. Lorenzo Ghiberti created 10 bronze panels for the doors, detailing Old Testament stories. Michelangelo was so impressed that he called them "the gates of Paradise" and the name stuck. They really are marvelous. 

Our guide took us though a market place and by a bronze statue of a boar. A small stream of water runs out of its mouth and the tradition is that when you put a coin in its mouth, when it slides down if it slips into the grating below, you will return to Florence. Glenda, at least, will return!

I didn't feed a coin to the pig but I did drop one in the box of a street performer who was imitating a statue. Unfortunately he insisted I come back and get a gentle hug. I tried to avoid it, then gave up. It turned to to be a good deed because  several other people in our group gave him coins, too.

The lasagna I had for lunch was really good but not as quite good as other ones I've had in Italy. I have been surprised to learn that lasagna here is always creamy, never a dente.  And portions continue to be large, as Randy's pizza showed.

Nearby our table this guy was efficiently rolling out pizza dough and cooking it in the oven behind him.

We were on our own for a while so the Snyders and ourselves went back to the leather store to see if there was something we had to have; there wasn't. 

But nearby is Basilica of Santa Croce, which we did want to visit.

I wanted to go here because it's where Michelangelo is buried. He died at age 88 and has a very impressive resting place.

Galileo has a fancy tomb, too, but because he was suspected of heresy it took about a century to get it.

On the floor are many tomb slabs. Putting them where they will be walked on was in line with appearing humble, even though you had to be pretty wealthy to be buried here. 

I loved walking through this old city with it's unique atmosphere.

Next we looked around and found a good gelato store - the chocolate orange was excellent!

We also found a charming store called Signum. Inside the surprisingly low-ceilinged room is a wealth of lovely items related to paper and printing.

We have seen a lot of Pinocchio items in Italy; I had forgotten that the story is based in Italy.  

Then we walked back to the 2nd century Roman bridge which, like the London Bridge of olden days, is filled with shops. Pretty cool.

It was finally getting close to time to go. We went back to the leather shop area to meet the rest of the group. As we waited we watched local boys (and one girl) play a hard game of soccer. 

When we got back to the hotel, everyone was on their own for dinner. The Snyders and the Lamberts walked over to a nearby mall to see what they had. It wasn't much of a mall and it didn't have many food options. We tried to order at one restaurant but they only took orders on their app, even though the staff was there. So we went downstairs to the Old Wild West restaurant and ordered nachos, French fries, and beer. I may be wrong but I am not comfortable ordering a hamburger in Europe.