Florence-Day 2

 Our second full day of Florence, we were up & out early again. Between the six hour time difference & no blackout curtains on our window…..it wasn’t terribly hard.

We headed back across the river & took advantage of the La k of crowds by the Duomo’s main entrance to admire it,

and the Baptistry doors as well.

We had a Skip the Line tour for David at The Academy & the Duomo as well. Our guide was fantastic-she gave plenty of history & background before we headed in.

Michelangelo was an absolute genius.

The way he worked with the marble….the figures look like they’re emerging from the stone.

Stunning.

And at the end of the hallway is David.

Absolutely amazing.

Just amazing.

Our tour only got us view David but it was so worth it. 

Some day it would be nice to return & explore the rest of The Academy.

Instead we continued on with our tour to Il Duomo.

The history, craftsmanship, creation of the actual dome, skilled artists is massive.

All under the ruling Medici family.

The history nerd in me just finds all of it fascinating.

And the interior is stunning.

The clock follows a sundial pattern-since they didn’t have watches in use yet.

Looking up into the dome.

Worth every kink in the neck.

Our tour took us up onto the North Terrace with more amazing views.

Then our guide said her goodbye & we were on our own to either climb back down to the interior of the cathedral…..or climb up the rest of the way to the top of the dome.

We climbed on.

And came out onto a landing with a closer view of the paintings.

And after waiting a bit, we climbed the final few hundred stairs & came out to this view:

Amazing.

Then we began decending the 400-some steps back down.

From there we strolled back thru the city, got a light lunch, and checked out the sculptures on display by City Hall.

It’s crazy that for hundred of years Michelangelo’s David stood out here, exposed to the elements.

Now a replica stands in his place.

After a little time to relax at our apartment, we walked 2 blocks over to meet our guide for another tour.

This one was a walking food tour in our neighborhood.

Our first stop was a local bar & sampling some antipastos. 

As we nibbled & sampled we heard about the history with some of the foods, using fresh ingredients, and the vineyards. Florentine salami, bruschetta, truffle cheese was all consumed. And some Chianti as well.

Then we moved on to the next stop.

Getting a drink from one of these:

A wine window.

Funny thing-we had dined at this same restaurant the night before & watched the people line up & wait in line for this.

We didn’t have to wait-just walked up and ordered.

The wine windows are left from use during the Black Plague. Early attempts at social distancing.

Then, during Covid some enterprising restaurants put them back into use. 

After that, we walked a couple more blocks to a small bar run by a brother & sister. 

And we got a class about the history & how to make a Negroni.

From there we walked a couple more blocks & enjoyed a Florentine steak dinner.

Absolutely delicious.

Then somehow we still had room for gelato before we said goodbye to our fantastic guide, walked a block back to our apartment & called it a day.