Day 3: Florence

This morning we boarded a high speed train to Florence for the day.  A list of the city’s “Favorite     Sons” reads like a who’s who of the Renaissance.  We scheduled an afternoon museum tour so we could see some of the works of Michelangelo, Leonardo de Vinci, Botticelli and others.  We got to see representative works of all the men.  By the way, did you know that Leonardo is from a small town in Italy called Vinci…which is exactly how he got his name, Leonardo of Vinci.  One thing for sure, you can’t do Florence in one day as there are so many marble statues and paintings to see.

Ann made an interesting observation about the difference between Florence and Venice.  Venice is significantly less stressful than Florence because there are no cars bustling around.  Florence is a mad house of cars, bikes, motor scooters and throngs of people.  Our guide says that the Italian are all crazy drivers and the only way a pedestrian can deal with it is: (1) cross your fingers; (2) Close your eyes; (3) run.

Barb and Brad took the train today to Milan.  Barb is going to post some pictures on Facebook about their day.

Leonardo de Vinci's "Baptism of Jesus"

We saw lots of important things in Florence.  We covered a lot of ground and our bodies are starting to revolt.  Ann says she has more pain than her 77 year old body can stand.  Our pedometer said that we took 16,125 steps today and walked 7.6 miles.

Michelangelo's "David" (a copy)

Botticelli's "Birth of Venus"

Tomorrow we have a small tour to some of the islands around Venice.  We will board the cruise ship in the early afternoon