Day 24 - TT European Whirl (Day 7) - Florence

Wake up call at 6am this morning and we had to pack our bags and have them ready to go by 6:30.

 

Tasha was not happy this morning - she is not coping with the lack of internet services.  Most places we have stayed on this tour say they have internet but it is either very patchy or very expensive.

 

We got on the bus at 7:30 and met up with Helena outside the Vatican Museum.

 

Yet another amazing place to visit.  The old tapestries and carvings are beautiful.  What amazed we were the ceilings.  We thought the roof was carved but it was all painted.  It looked like 3D.  It was amazing and t think it was done so man y years ago. 

 

 From the Vatican Museum we went into the Sistine Chapel.  Unfortunately you are not able to take photos inside the chapel but it was amazing.  Helena was a font of information and we spent almost an hour going into the detail of the Michelangelo paintings and the stories behind them.

Then it was time get back on the bus and head to our next stop.  There was yet another car accident on the highway so we ended up losing an hour.
Tasha and I were so looking forward to Florence as Sigi had told us all along that we should wait until Florence to go shopping.
We finally made it into Florence at 3:15 and went into one of the leather factories for a demonstration before being given only one hour to go wandering.  We raced down to where the "Hole in the wall" is .... ie ATM.  to find the machine did not do withdrawals.  We were a bit disappointed with the shopping - lots of high end stores and LOTS of gold and leather shops but souvenir wise it was a little light.  We found some of the last few things we wanted to get from Italy and I splurged on myself.

I have always wanted a pandora bracelet and today I bought one as a memory of this trip.  I have charms from the places we have visited... ie a double decker bus from London, Collosseum, etc

Then we met up in the square and were introduced to Patrizia our local tour guide in Florence for a walking tour of Florence.  We saw so much and it is a tour you just have to do.  We walked through the streets and alleys as Patrizia explained life in Florence in years gone by.  We saw statues and carvings but the thing that blew me away was the cathedral.

It was massive - literally a city block - and made completely of marble in three different colours.  White, green and pink.  It was beautiful and everyone in our group was just walking around going "Wow"

Then it was back to the hotel for a buffet dinner which was very average - there were 3 different options for food and it was very plain. 
We are only here one night - Tomorrow we head to Switzerland which I am so looking forward to!

Todays tally:
Steps:  14514