Museums and such

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Today I had a 10 AM reservation for the Galleria dell' Accademia. I left the hotel around 9 to give myself plenty of time. I'm glad I did, because I have spent almost my entire time here in Florence either lost, really lost, or just plain super duper lost. I just can't get the hang of this place. It doesn't help that every whip-stitch there is another church or something that looks similar to another one a few blocks over. As I was starting to get anxious and frustrated, it started to rain again. I grabbed a cappuccino and took a minute to regroup, then as always, I saw something familiar and made my way to where I wanted to go. Not sure why I have to go through this each time. sigh.

In the Accademia is the David. I had no idea just how huge this statue was going to be. There are no photos allowed, but I'm sure you have all seen it. It is just huge. Standing in front of it and walking around it was so magical, I was in awe. It is so hard to imagine how this was sculpted. In the same museum are 4 sculptures that were never finished. Seeing how the form just appears was something I very much appreciated. On the train in from La Spezia, we passed the town where most of the marble is quarried. There were large blocks of marble lined up alongside the tracks.

After the museum, I walked around a bit, ending up at a small restaurant. They have big jugs of wine with spigots and sell it by the glass, carafe, or whatever you want. It was a neat look, so I took a picture. Had a nice cold cut and cheese tray and ate overlooking the river. After the busy waterways of Venice, it is odd to see the Arno River with no boats at all on it.

Had tortellini in brodo, and the traditional steak florentine for dinner tonight. There is a full word for that steak, but I am just not up to trying to spell it tonight. The brodo was great, but the tortellini were not homemade. What's up with that? The steak was great though. Was a t-bone steak with lemon on the side. After dinner I walked around the Duomo (got lost again!!) and had some mango gelato. I am really digging this gelato thing.

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Photos

The Duomo
This one is smaller than Milan's, but is much more colorful.

Campanile
This is next to the Duomo. It has 414 steps to the top, but I haven't done that yet.

Standing in front of the Duomo
I had to fight the hordes of tour groups to get this picture, so I am putting it up here. lol

Bottles of Wine
Self serve wine. I liked it a lot.

Lunch
There's nothing like prosciutto, salami and cheese to make a great afternoon snack.

Comments

[Joe]

Just to let you know I've been following your travels and gained ten pounds just looking at your meal pics!!

[Vi]

the perfect lunch
Cold cuts, cheese and wine... doesn't get any better than that!