We start with our first line of the day, half an hour or so to get into the Doumo.
Once inside Cathie decides we are going to take the free English language tour that starts once they get 8 to 10 people. This evokes immediate eye rolling and foot dragging from the rest of us. Please, not the tour. We just want to do it on our own.
As expected we lose. The tour was surprisingly informative. The British art student without any charisma and a slight lisp, did a great job of covering the history of the building, then explaining Botticelli's painting on the dome.
There is a great deal of significance in the above photo. You can look up the artistic/religious interpretations or take the English tour from the British art student. The major point here, is this Cathie's third trip to the Doumo over 35 years and it is the first time she has seen it not covered in scaffolding. Given her love of Botticelli, she was very pleased.
My buddy Mike recommend Grom for gelato, so that was next. I don't know if I'm ready for best in Italy, but it delivered. Excellent stratciatella and caramel.
On to San Lorenzo and the Medici Chapel. I assume the Medici money has been gone for a while. That said, the paintings in San Lorenzo are some of the cleanest, best lit art I have ever seen in that old of a cathedral. We are once again in a no picture zone, so here is the inside if the cathedral from wikipedia.
We missed seeing the library by five minutes. We are going to try tomorrow before we leave. The girlies passed on the Medici Chapel and it was just as well. Back in the day, they did a superior job of collecting relics. Nothing like the bone fragments of saints to brighten a day. I am thankful the descriptions were in Italian.
We eventually made it down to the Michelangelo Chapel, where he did the monuments/sarcophagi for the Medicis. His work is always amazing.
From there lunch, then half an hour at the outdoor market. (I'm always reminded of Mr. Mike's impression of Elvis with 10 inch steel needles through his eyes at this point. Look it up if you haven't seen it.) I think it was bracelet shopping and stuff.
I took the girlies to the Accademia. Cathie has been twice and didn't need to go again. It is really a one item museum with a lot of art you have stopped caring about at this point. (Do I really need to see more pre-renaissance altar screens?) It all surrounds Michelangelo's David, which is always worth the wait in line and the exorbitant ticket price.
Naps and we're off to dinner. Cathie has picked a place that sounds great and is within a couple of blocks from the hotel. But first, the obligatory "My family looks nice I must have a photo in front of the hotel shot."
We walk into dinner and it is the classic Italian restaurant atmosphere. It is owned by an old man who still works there, but, really he is just hanging out. There is one older (old) waiter. One son (the one who speaks better English) is managing the restaurant. The other son waits tables. This is the owner carving a t-bone steak.
I don't know what happened before we had arrived, but the entire staff was mad at each other. Lots of eye rolling and dirty looks as people walked by. The owner was either used to it or oblivious to it.
The food was great. I had ravioli in a walnut cream sauce and a secondi of osso buco with spinach. Cathie had a really good seafood risotto and Alexandra had noodles in a ragu. The wine was very good.
On the way out, the owner and his wife were sitting at a table. They stood, thanked us for coming and shook our hands. They were very lovely.
Gelato on the way back and an early (earlier) morning tomorrow.
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Location:Florence, Italy
Wait, you didn't climb to the top of the Duomo? It's a fantastico view!
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