Hills of Tuscany

Our day began early this morning with a bus ride through the countryside of Italy's shin (as Vanda would say). We drove through hills and fields filled with sunflowers, vineyards, apple trees and olive trees. It was interesting to see the fields of sunflower seeds. The flowers were withering away as the farmers had already taken the seeds for cooking oil. Small towns remained built by the original inhabitants of Italy (Etruscans), even before the Roman rule. Arriving in Florence we could see that it would not be as majestic as Rome (and with as much as we saw in one day in Rome, it is hard to even compare the city of Florence). The outer city has become modernized as we can see from our hotel window that is a good ways from the center. The inner city still remained built on top of old ruins as we could see the exposed rock from the original construction. We walked the same streets people walked through in the Middle Ages. The buildings were close together and the passage was a good break from the sun. At one point we were sitting at a bench with a man feeding the pigeons. Luckily we got away without any pain or poop. Soon we met with our guide for the day Simon. We first started at the Galleria dell' accademia. Inside were many paintings but of course the main attention was focused on the work of Michelangelo. David stood seventeen feet tall on a platform about six feet tall (lets just say it is hard to avoid a naked man when he is twenty-three feet tall). Great detail was put into everything from his hair, eyes, and even the veins on his arm. He stood with a sling over his left shoulder and a stone in his right hand. We then walked to the Duomo of Florence (the dome that inspired the building of St. Peters in Rome). Finally we arrived in the Santa Croce square. Many shops lined the streets and we managed to buy myself a leather belt (custom fit), a purse for ashlee, a few pins to add to my hat collection (including Pinnochio, the childrens hero, and a button of David's face, I didn't want his naked body on my hat), and four paintings from the street sellers that were easy to talk down to very cheap. We found out that Brian Jones (the couple from Philadelphia) is the senior pastor at Christ Church of the Valley and was called from Columbus, Ohio to start the church in 2000 which now averages 13,000 people. He is also a writer and has books that can be found at Barnes and Nobles. Dinner was only three courses at the hotel and we also met a couple from Virginia. He is a music teacher/conductor and she is in med school at West Virginia. The decoration at the dinner table consisted of an eggplant in a bowl that looked as if it had been sitting there for quite some time and we found out it is hit and miss with showers with a tub or a drain (luckily the emergency cord in the bathroom is clearly labeled). We are packing our bags for another early start towards Venice. Tomorrow, don't drink the water in the streets!