Firenze, Hooray!

Anneke and Chloe at Ponte Vecchio, Florence

Today was much better than Rome.  We had a wonderful city guide and a wonderful bus tour guide.  After a good breakfast we headed to the theater to get on our tour bus.  After yet another 90-minute drive through the beautiful Tuscan countryside, we reached Firenze (Florence).  We drove to a bus stop, and got off to walk to a square, our meeting place, after our free time.  We walked past Leonardo da Vinci’s house and into the Piazza de la Signorina. It is an open air museum of sculptures. Among others, there was a copy of Michelangelo’s David. Our tour guide told us about the making of the original, and why they had to put it inside. It had been made from inferior marble and was cracking.  It is now surrounded by a glass case in the Academia.  We then walked over the Ponte Vecchio (old bridge). On it is a collection of jewelry shops. The Medici’s built a passage over it to get around privately.

Later on, we saw a string of locks that went between two posts. We asked our city guide what they were and he said that lovers used to make a vow together with the lock and then threw the key in the river.  

As we circled back around, we walked into the courtyard of the Uffizi, the oldest museum in the world.  Inside we saw many famous paintings and because the museum was organized in chronological order, we got to see the history and how the styles of art progressed.  Unfortunately, it was very crowded and Anneke didn’t get to see much over the heads of adults, but what she did see, she said was beautiful.  Chloe continued to say that every time she sees something that she only has seen in books, she can’t believe that she is seeing it in real life.  After the Uffizi, our tour guide led us to the cathedral in Piazza del Duomo. We marveled at the church and then went to lunch.

After lunch we had two hours of free time. We chose to try to find the oldest church in Florence.  It was built in the 8^th century. We were surprised that the people of the Dark Ages would have the money to build such a beautiful and elaborate church. We then roamed the streets looking for a souvenir.  We got back to our meeting place early, so we sat down for a cool drink in the piazza.  Anneke was talking with gestures, and hit Nonny’s wine glass.  It flew though the air and sliced Nonny’s hand.  Luckily we had a nurse sitting next to us and she helped us.  We walked back to our bus with our group.  We had an uneventful trip back to the ship and headed to the medical bay where Nonny got proper bandages.

Florence was one of our favorite cities and one of our best tours. We had a lot of fun.