Day 6 - Florence and Pisa

What an interesting way to start the morning. Imagine waking up, opening the window and smelling the oh so familiar scent of burning fire. Last night someone deliberately started a mountain fire near the port. Pictures don't do justice to this, it looked like lava.

Off we go!

Part of the Tuscany countryside. The mountains in the far distance is where most of the marble for all the famous artists of the day got their blocks	There are signs for McDrive (drive-through McD everywhere)

First stop is Florence. Today is a non-ship sponsored excursion. One feature they offer is a cut-the-line ticket to see the statue of David. the statue use to be on public display but not long ago some wack job attacked it. As a result it now lives in a building with a large plexiglass wall protecting it.

Tuesdays are a bad day to visit as museums are closed Mondays. A cut-the-line ticket had a 10 minute wait. Someone without the ticket would wait 3-4 hours.

An artists practice sculpture. We'll see the final product later.	There he is at the end of the long corridor
Hands were 1/3 larger to emphasize the importance of wit and creativity of the human	This little room caught my attention	Collection of practice busts from various artists at the time
	This is an amazing collection

Florence is just filled with beauty everywhere. Great wealth use to be here. The original family (read that with a mindset of mob) financed bank loans all across Europe back at the time of the Great Plague when 1/3 of all Europeans died. Loans would often time reach 300% interest. What's a family to do with money? Blow it on art and religious artifacts. They bankrolled Michelangelo, Donatello, Raphael, Leonardo, etc. It's places like this that make you pause and wonder how did so many brilliant artists all live at the same time.

You can't go to church without first being baptized. The baptismal was built in 1100's	Rear of Santa Maria del Fiore	The front was never really finished in the 14th century. In the 17th century the town had a competition to build a facade. This is the result
Amazing detail	Can't have a church without a super, over the top bell tower	The church was built in the 14th century but they didn't have the knowledge until the 15th century how to make the dome happen
A wall of chocolate? Yes please
Remember the rough sculpture in the hall of David? This is the final product. Cheaper to do tests in plaster than marble		Santa Croe. Final resting place of Michelangelo
This is the only bridge to survive WW2 as the Nazis needed it to cross	My mom and I love these jelly candies. In Florence they're $1 each (home they're a box of 20 for $5)	Hilltop view of the places we just saw
	Hint: In Italy it's illegal for YOU to buy something that was on the ground (but not for the person to try selling it from the ground). Cops waited for this couple to buy art then fined them

You can't visit Florence and forget to see Pisa. They're only a 30 minute drive apart.


Florence and Pisa are stunning, so much to see. I could have spent days here going around.


Tomorrow: Rome!