Italy part 2

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From Rimini, I went to Florence. I arrived there at about noon, and unfortunately I only had about 24 hours to spend in the city before I had to go to Rome. It is definitely a really cool city with a lot of things to see. They say that Florence was the center of art in the Renaissance era, and it has the sites to prove it.

I first went to the Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral. It is the 4th largest cathedral in Europe, and it has a giant dome that stands about 500 feet high. The painting on the inside of the dome was spectacular. I took a tour that took me right up to the base of the dome on the inside of the church, then I climbed to the top of the dome on the outside of the cathedral which game me an amazing view of the entire city of Florence. Afterwards I went to see the Ponte Vecchio. It is the oldest standing bridge in Florence, dating from the 14th century. There were some other older bridges, but this one was the only one to withstand the bombings during WWII. I then went to the Santa Croce. It's another spectacular church, and it is the burial place for famous Italians such as Galileo, Michaelangelo, and Machiavelli. That evening we went to a restaurant and all had a Florentine steak with Chianti.

The following day (today), I woke up early to beat the line at the Uffizi Gallery. This gallery had a plethora of impressive artwork: busts of Roman Emperors from the first century, Renaissance paintings from Da Vinci and Michaelangelo, and much more. Aftwards I went to the Galleria dell' Academia, which houses Michaelangelo's David. Pictures of the statue don't do it justice. It really is the most impressive sculpture I've seen.

After that I had to head to Rome so that I could pick up my tickets for the Papal Audience tomorrow. Once a week, the pope takes time to address a crowd of people for an hour, and I'm going to go see it tomorrow morning.

I'll be in Rome for the next 5 nights before I head to Barcelona.

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