Florence does not dissappoint!

If I had one word to sum up this city it would be magical. I admit when we got off the train I did not immediatly fall in love, like I had in Venice. It was crowded and overwhelming. Then we turned the corner and saw this (first picture below) and it literally took my breath away. The church stood there like a hollywood set or something I would see in one of my kid's pop up books. Simply stunning. Ironically, the inside is nothing to write home about. So we fondly refered to it as the "inside out" church. We quickly found a nice hotel dropped our stuff off and went exploring. We hit the museums and the piazzas one after another, more impressed each time. The Uffizi art gallery lived up to it's reputation and was captivating. I respected the no picture sign this time, plus a picture of Botticelli's The Birth of Venus would not due it justice anyways. Matt, as a horror movie buff, enjoyed the courtyard out front which is in a famous scene from Hannibal. The cool bridge below is the Ponte Vecchio and my favorite picture of Matt and I so far. The rest of the night we wandered, ate dinner and gelato, and wandered some more (Each day I have gotten over 28,000 steps!)

The next morning we woke up to a beautiful and sunny city. We made our way to Tuscany bike tours home base in Florence for our bike ride in the Chianti region of Italy. It was nice to see grass and trees as we drove 30 minutes outside of Florence for the start of our tour. We had a hilarious guide from Scotland, which made the fact that we were going to be a riding our bikes longer and harder than Matt and I have ever done in our adult lives, seem like a good idea. First we toured a castle built in 1199 (that's right) and explored the vineyards and olive groves. It was so beautiful. We sampled the wine and oil for ourselves. I was surprised that the olive oil is more green (you don't find that at Winco) and pungent than we are used to. Plus, I am not a drinker so I could feel the small amount of wine we had consumed almost immediatly. The bike riding was a nice change of pace and hurt new muscles that had not been activated on this trip (and completly sobers you up!) All in all te trip was 13 miles and we stopped for lunch at a local restaurant and to take pictures along the way. Highly recommend if you ever find yourself in Florence.

After arriving back in Florence we visited a church with the tombes of Michealangelo, Galileo, and many other greats. Attatched to the church was a prestigious leather studio. As we were walking, in the middle of two panty stores, was a small and humble church doing Adoration. We went inside to spend some time with the blessed sacrament. It was reminder to us that this trip is about having fun but it is also a pilgrimage. Most churches here are museums, not places of worship, and you have to actively make them religious or else you will fall into the trap of just taking pictures and moving on. As we were leaving we noticed a fingerless glove in the transcript and after closer inspection it was a glove worn by Padre Pio. Padre Pio recieved the stigmata (the wounds of Christ). I am sure this was God's way of telling us to slow down and spen some time with him. We ate dinner at an amazing trattoria and then stumbled upon the greatest show in Florence... the street performers. Musicians playing Frank Sinatra, chalk art that should be in a museum, and the best a hilarious street performer with a Charlie Chaplin feel. As I was watching I could not realize how unique and amazing this trip as been so far.

The Bascilica

The "fake" David. The real thing is inside the Accademia which we did not see.

Matt and I in front of the Ponte Vecchio.

Amazing sunset in Florence

Each barrell holds approximately 1,000 bottles of wine.

The view from inside the castle

Matt and I on our bike riding adventure. Notice how I am inconspicuously hiding the oil stain on Matt's shirt.

Exhausted!

Beautiful frescos are everywhere

There are creepy little shops like this everywhere. I liked this one because of the old Italian woman out front.

Not in a museum, it is just made of chalk.

This street perfromer was a unique way to end our wordeful stay in Florence.