Italy... the Mexico of Europe

The title is what Crystal had to say today after we had another wild adventure finding the highway. Hilly, oceanic, red tile roofs, wild drivers and excellent food: sounds rather Mexican to me. I am also thrilled with how well I am doing with the language here... sounds a lot like Spanish but with even more nearly direct Latin words. I think that I might be able to swing Italian speech with a little study. In fact, I have found that if I just say things in Spanish with an Italian accent they are usually understood. Ha!

Today we left our remarkable location reluctantly to head to Florence. The drive was relatively uneventful until we neared the city. Florence is a metropolis and our maps do not show nearly enough of the city to get around well. Add to that a hefty fine that you receive if you accidentally drive into the city center (dispensed when you return your rental car ala video surveillance systems - smile, you're on candid camera!) and it creates one stressful situation.

Shockingly with a bit of luck and Crystal's sharp eyes spotting our location on one of the maps we drove to Piazzelle de Michelangelo to our campsite. This place is pretty sweet in the sense that it is a 15 minute walk into the city center. We set up camp and left the car behind relieved to be on our feet.

We strolled across the Ponte de Vecchio with gelato in hand and looked at the jewelry that has been sold here for ages. From there we went to the cathedral Santa Maria del Fiore to see the stunning marble floors and the enormous painting inside the dome. We may climb to the top tomorrow morning but it was closed today.

We then went to the Accademia Gallery to see the David and Michelangelo's 'Prisoners', unfinished sculptures housed here. All impressive and awe-inspiring. David is much larger than I expected, a truly enormous sculpture with remarkable detail - how did he do that? We strolled through the rest of the museum before heading back towards the river.

Near the Arno River is the Uffizi Gallery that we also visited today. We saw three of the four ninja turtles... only Donetello to make have seen them all. Some really incredible artwork here from the Renaissance - Venus in many forms, more Madonna and child painting than I imagined I could see in one day, incredible church art from the middle ages and the Renaissance... it was remarkable.

Exhausted we went to dinner... eating and spending too much. But the food is good and the service is friendly. Everything is extremely fresh... I had the best pesto I have ever had tonight. Full and sluggish we walked back up the hill and watched the sunset over the city from Piazelle de Michelangelo.

Florence is packed with tourists... there is more English here than Italians. The American school kids are inescapable and we even stood behind two girls from Kent State at the Accademie. I think that Joe, Bonnie, Pat and Sherry did better to visit here in the off season. We will see what tomorrow brings but if we can we will try to get back to the country.

Happy Father's Day, Dad! Thinking of you in Italy. I will add pictures as soon as I can... enjoying the comments. Mike, glad you are having such a great start of retirement - pencil me in for lunch when we get back :)