Suprised at Florence

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I have to back track a little. Florence was really beautiful and had way more more interesting history than I realized!

In the morning we drove into Florence and walked from the coach to a leather and jewellery making place. The Italian guide was so funny. He eplained to us how they make leather jewellery boxes and how to tell if its real leather or not. Then we had the opportunity to buy. I got a leather wallet for my brother and it was free to get initials engraved in gold so I got that done too. I'm proud of that present. A lof of other people bought either puzzle rings or the italian charm bracelets.

After that we had a guided tour that was included in the price of our tour. We seen a lot of statues, including a replica of David. This is how I learnt about all of the history. We sat by a building that was used to house a royal family, Leonardo Da Vinci, Galileo, Michaelangelo and more. We also walked past a museum that has a lot of their work, as well of statues of each one of them. They would use molds that were made when each one of them died so they were actually a true likeness of them. My sister would have a field day here!

We walked by a river too and through some markets. The views were great. It was hard to stay close enough to the guide to hear what she was saying about everything though. We came to a gorgeous church that I can't remember the name of. I couldn't go in because my shoulders weren't covered. So I wondered around and bought a scarf.

I never did see Gloria and Karen come out of the church so I found some other people from the tour and had lunch with them. We went to a sit down restaurant. I had pizza and cappucino. The pizza is huge, but thin and doesn't have much on it for toppings so its easy to eat the whole thing. The cappucino had nothin' on Tim Hortons! It was so strong- non sugary foam.

After we tried to find the actual statue of David and got lost a little bit. It's amusing to watch locals watch you go back and forth. We finally found the building that it was in but the line up was too long. Some of us kept going and some stayed in line (they never did get in). I decided that seeing the replica was good enough for me and I wanted to make my way back to where we had to meet up with the rest of the tour. I never bought anything else except for 2 postcards. On our way back we met up with Karen and Gloria. I guess they had been looking for me earlier! Oops. I felt bad.

We came back to the campsite and had some down time to rest and get ready before leaving for our Tuscan meal. Everyone cleans up so nice when we get the chance to go out! We stopped on our way back into Florence for our group photo. Unfortunately, it was raining so it was a very quick photo shoot. The background view is awesome though. Hopefully it will still show up good in the photo.

There was quite a walk to the restaurant from the coach drop off, so I got fairly wet from the rain. My shoes were soaking wet. Why does it seem like everytime we go for a fancy meal I end up lookin like a sweaty mess by the time we get there? lol We were in the lower level of a restaurant for the meal. I sat at a table with Karen, Gloria ,and Harry. The meal was massive!

Will have to write more later..My eyes won't stay open. Ciao!

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Photos

Michaelangelo's David
Ok, actually its the replica.

Not Allowed In
Outside of the church I couldn't go into.