Florence Day 5

April 23, 2007 4:40 p.m.
Well another illustrious day for us. Today was the Duomo Tour along with the Duomo Museum tour. Everybody basically got up early without being told. It was another good night of sleep, but of course we had to wear earplugs, because the windows were open. No drunks thankfully. This morning for breakfast we had leftover potatoes that were fried, eggs, cheese and bread. Coffee and yogurt were also on the menu. The night prior Rodger and I went to the grocery store and they had these bacon wrapped turkey pieces, so we bought them and had those as well. Breakfast was filling. After breakfast, everybody started getting ready for our trip. Once all were ready, we headed out with our trash (we forgot to ask Frederico where we put our trash, and I haven’t seen any pickups in our apartment complex). We deposited the trash and took off. First on the list was the Duomo, which for all who don’t know, the Duomo is THE church in Florence. Duomo actually means church, but people call the one in Florence that because it is such a huge church. We arrived and found out that there was a line of people going around the church to enter. No problem. Right when we got there, they opened the doors for everybody to go in, so the wait wasn’t that long. While we got to the front of the church, I noticed a sign saying no shorts or skirts. So I started to sweat, and as we walked in, Lisa blocked the guards view of me, but I don’t think they care, because the more people in the church, the more stuff they can sell. So we got in with no problems. The church of course is mighty big. Like most churches of this time, it is a huge open space. The place was basically gutted, and a few things were on the walls. In Rick Steves’ Florence, there was a small blurb about the Duomo, because there really isn’t anything in there. They kind of talk about the Dome (which at the time was a huge feat considering what had to be done). The highlight I believe was the gift shop (at the actual ground floor of the church, down some steps under the floor everybody stands on). The prices in the gift shop were the best I have seen in a gift shop for a place like this. After the gift shop, we exited the Duomo and headed to the back of the church to the Duomo museum. Now the museum on the other hand is a historical place because all the artwork conceived for the church was moved into this building. The problem was, when the church was built, there were many setbacks to it. The church was built, but then they tore down the front, and then it stood there basically naked for 300 years while Florence decided what it wanted to do. So there was a lot of rebuilding and such going on, so they took everything down that had some value and holed it up in the Museum. In the museum we saw a lot of Donatello’s, michelangelo’s Pieta, and the actual doors for the Baptismal. I could really go into detail about all of this work, but I actually think that is boring, and I know that Lisa is going more in depth of things. I know some people might like that, but not most. I guess this is our diary, but that is why we have books, to look this stuff up.



I thought the highlight was Michelangelo’s Pieta, which was actually his last work. He was carving this statue to be put on his coffin. The surprise was that we actually got to take pictures, so we did. We spent probably an hour and half there looking at sculptures, paintings and religious items.
After we left there, we had some caffé and decided what we wanted to do. The gameplan was to return to the covered market (central market), look around and then head back home. Lisa and Beth had to buy a few more gifts, I wanted to look around the market, and Rodger wanted to look around the market. So we all kind of split up and did our own thing for about half an hour. When we got back together, Rodger wanted to have lunch in the Market (where prices were cheaper), but Lisa and I wanted to head home. So Rodger and Beth stayed at the market to eat lunch and Lisa and I decided to stop quick and get some “lunchmeat” which was actually salami. In Italy, there is about 500 different varieties of salami, and you can’t figure out which one you like by looking. At one of the stalls they give out samples to quizzical tourists, so we got these huge samples from a nice lady. She would hand me a small crostini (which is a lot for a sample once you put a slice of meat on it) and then hand Lisa one. We could have had lunch right there if we kept asking questions. So two out of the three meats we liked, and then we tried some balsamic vinegar, which was good, but not great. She also had some black olive tapenade and red pesto. We tried both and decided that we would get two of the meats and the black olive tapenade. So the lady asks which we want, we tell her, and then she runs over to the guys cutting the meat and serving people and tells them what we want, and they check us out. Quite a good little system, because they aren’t stingy with their samples, and there checkout is speedy and efficient, especially if you talk through the sample lady. So after we got our stuff we headed home while Rodger and Beth ate lunch there.



I made a small sandwich buffet of the meats, three cheeses, the tapenade, senape (mustard) and some caramelized onions I did a few days ago. We also opened a bottle of red wine that I mistakenly bought for about 8€, because I thought it was 2€. The lunch was pretty tasty, the wine was smoky at first, but then toned down to a decent red wine. I think I like the 1€ box white wine better. And now Rodger is at a stamp store, Lisa and Beth are taking a nap, and I am typing. Later tonight we take a walking tour of the Ponte Vecchio and Pitti Palace. So at least we will get some exercise. Tomorrow is the Pisa day trip. Time to see the leaning tower. That should be fun.