10/7/10: Rome, Day 8

Florence, Italy!

Today was the 2nd of my 2 planned day trips while on this vacation. I woke up early and was off to meet my tour group for a full day tour of Florence, Italy. With me on this trip were 3 new friends I had met while on my previous day trip to Pompeii: Bill, his wife Linda and their son, Jason.

We arrived in Florence around 11am and were immediately unleashed onto this city for exploring on our own for an hour and a half before lunch. I headed over to the Basilica di Santa Croce. This church contains the remains of a "who's who" of past Florence greats. The final resting places of Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli and other great artists with roots in this city.

After spending some time in this church, it was off to lunch, then it was time for our guided tour of the city. We walked through various piazzas, including Piazza della Signori. This particular piazza is famous because it is an outdoor sculpture museum. We were then off to the Duomo, an enormous church that was so tall and wide that no picture I took was able to even get 1/4th of the church in the shot! There is a painting on the dome of this church that is larger than a soccer field.

We ended our walking tour in the world famous Galleria dell' Academia. This is a museum that was created around Michelangelo's famous statue of David. There is a perfect copy of this statue in the previously mentioned Piazza della Signori because taking pictures of the original David is prohibited. Of course, why settle for a copy - so here is a picture of the actual original statue! Don't tell anyone!

There are also around 8 unfinished sculptures by Michelangelo in this museum as well as other various works of art inspired by him.

After the museum, it was back to the bus for our 3 and a half hour ride back to Rome. I am now exhausted and ready to get some sleep. Tomorrow is my last full day in Rome. I will be walking over to the Vatican and I look forward to seeing all sorts of amazing art there. I can't believe how fas this trip has gone & how fun it has been.