Florence is THE Renaissance city - the place where it all began. With an enormous amount of money and power, the merchant families of this city state dragged Europe out of the superstitious, primitive Middle Ages and into a new era that set the stage for the modern Western world. These families, most notably the Medicis, poured their excess wealth into art, science, technology, universities and not only created a beautiful and progressive city, but a new Europe. Ask the kids, I get pretty intense when standing in front of the Florence Duomo (cathedral), topped by Brunelleschi's miraculous dome and talking about the Renaissance. With carefully planned reservations, we got in past the huge lineup to see Michelangelo's David, the greatest sculpture in the world to many, and then had a walking tour of Florence. Some of the kids and parents opted to climb Giotto's Campanile (the bell tower of the cathedral) for commanding views of Florence and the Tuscan countryside, and others spent extra time bartering in the leather stalls of the Mercata (market). We had amazing organic gelato from Grom near the duomo, and later great pizza from our host Alessandro at La Bussola for dinner. Days don't get much better than this. It was so nice, in fact, that I put my 20 pound camera in my room at the hotel after the morning, so I don't have too many pictures.
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| Brendan attempts to make some money as a living statue |
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| Breanna - extra happy in the sun. |
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| Neptune looks on as we pose in Piazza della Signoria |
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| Eat your gelato Josh, c'mon, be a good boy |
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| Paige, looking forward to the fresh organic ingredients in her Grom gelato |
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| The view from our hotel - duomo in the (short) distance |
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| Breanna and Jocelyn "Bollywood" Badhesa share a laugh in the mercato |
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| The communist party of Florence having a little rally |
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| In the mercato |
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| My vegetarian pizza at La Bussola - LOADED! |
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