The phone woke us up at 845 and it was the man from the front desk. They were so concerned that we were going to “loosa alla our money” for the excursion to Siena, but we reassured him we were good.

After a lovely sleep-in and a good breakfast, we were energized to take on, we headed to the Piazza Della Duomo. It was a lovely day with blue skies, dotted with fluffy, white clouds and a slight breeze. It was starting to warm up, so staying in the shade is key to an enjoyable stroll.

There was no line up to get inside the Duomo. It was lovely, but certainly not as impressive as the outside. Jo-Ann wanted to go to the top of the clock tower. Remember she has a fear of heights! All of them said they were going. I decided it was best for me to find a spot and enjoy a cappuccino and that is exactly what I did. I placed my map of Florence, my cappuccino and my sunglasses on the bistro table and recorded a little movie. I hope to post it when we have decent wifi. It really has been hard to download pics over here.

After my lovely beverage and time spent people watching, I headed over to the bench where we were to meet at and found our friend Yordie there. She decided not to go. I wish I had known so we could have enjoyed the moment in the square together.

Jo-Ann came back so pumped and proud. She had made it right to the top. She even leaned over and took pictures while saying, “the only fear, is fear itself.”

Congratulations Jo-Ann for conquering her fears! You should be proud.

From the Duomo, we headed to the Galeries des Academies to visit David. The cost to enter was 15 euros and a 45 min wait. That is the hardest part of tourist attractions is the standing which is hard is on the legs and feet.

We entered the gallery where I rented a headset for 6 euros walked through the doors and was looking at the gorgeous Michelangelo’s David at the end of the hall. Anatomy perfect! He was surrounded in light coming from the dome that Michelangelo built especially for him. I cried, he was so beautiful! I do a lot of crying over here as it is all so overwhelming to see the art, monuments and experience things you have only read about or have seen in movies.

You can spend hours studying him from all angles. They have benches in behind the sculpture where you can gaze at his incredible gluteous mmmmmaximus. Yeah baby! Of course this is strictly for art.

 2 sculptors before Michelangelo attempted to complete David who was formed from one solid block of marble, but they gave up as it was too difficult. He also lost his left arm during a train ride from his original location to this final resting spot in Florence. It has since been reattached.

We wandered through the gallery and saw works of art by Bertolini, …. and in this gallery you will see mostly religious works of art.

We caught up after 2 hours wandering and decided it was time for dinner. Since we had had a later breakfast, we skipped lunch and went right for a trattoria to have a bowl of pasta and of course wine at Il Portale on Via Luigi Alamanni, 29/r. http://www.trattoriailportale.it

Everything was incredible. Yordie and Jen had pasta carbonara with little jewels of pancetta. Jo-Ann had pasta primavera, and I had a pasta fagioli that was made with a white sauce and white beans, not the red sauce I have been accustomed to. It was rich, thick and if it had been appropriate to lick the bowl, I would have.

BTW – welcome our new followers Patricia and Lynn to our blog experience. Patricia said she might have to buy 2 plane seats with all this food. You are so right Patricia! LOL

It was our last evening in Florence and it was time to repack our bags, Jo-Ann and Yordie are laundry fanatics and so they headed to the launderia to do a load.

Clean gotchees, red wine, and off to sleep we went. Tomorrow, train ride back to Rome.

PS. loving the comments folks. Love to hear if you would do anything different and of course if there is information you would like from us.

We are returning to Rome for 1 last day, and will be touring The Vatican and Sistene Chapel, Piazza Navone at night for some shopping and of course more food. We are then off to Greece.