What a day–I don’t think we could have packed more into it if you used a shoe horn and WD40 or told my wife Palais Royal had combined their Club 50 sale with another 50% discount, but she only had one hour to get it done. Highlights:

Uffizi Galary–Italy’s greatest art museum and the home of incredible Renaissance paintings and statuary from Ancient Greece, Rome and the Renaissance times. The gallery is in chronological order from late Gothic through the early 17th century. Most all of the well known artists of Italy are represented. Interestingly, there is a room for Cranach and Durer, the great Lutheran and German artists who where friends of the Reformation. The famous painting of Luther and his wife Katy are in that room. We spent hours marveling at the beauty of the rooms that housed the art as well as the art.

Central Market near Saint Lorenzo church–outside stalls selling lots of stuff, especially leather goods and an enclosed food market with most every food item sold by individual sellers.

The Accademia–oldest school of art in the world. Home to several important musical instruments, including the only Stradivarius violin that has no replacement parts or refurbishments and the first piano forbears as well as several Michelangelo statuary, including his David, carved from one piece of marble that other artists had refused to use.

The Cathedral Dome–while Kathy and I took care of some personal needs with a phone and future travel plans, Randy and Melisa climbed all 462 stair steps to the top of Brunelleschi’s dome to first see the incredible paintings of Judgement Day that adorned the interior of the dome and then the beautiful sites of Tuscany as you went on the outside railing.

The goose chase–hunting for the church that had an organ recital in the Oltrarno district across the Arno River. We never found it, but we did glimpse into a beautiful church where mass was being conducted. It was not a site the tourist maps include, but with frescoed ceiling and beautiful altar, it was a wonderful discovery.

Great Italian pizza–wood fired pizza, real Italian style with super thin crust. Delicious! WEG