Day Three.

Today was another really long day. We got a 5:10 wake up call because we had to be at breakfast for six so that we could leave the hotel at 6:30. The reason for our very early start was because we went to spend that day in Florence and it is a four hour bus ride. Needless to say, most everyone napped on the bus. Once we arrived in Florence we met our tour guide Laura who took us into the Galleria dell' Academia which is the museum that holds all of Michelangelo's statues including the David! The David is absolutely amazing. It is 15 feet tall and awe inspiring. The tour guide led us around to see the David at all different angles to see how different features of the statue are highlighted at each angle. Unfortunately I can't post a picture, because for some reason you are not allowed to take pictures in this gallery.

After that we walked over to the Duomo. This was also beautiful and amazingly huge. You can climb the 463 steps to the top and from down below they looked tiny.

From the Duomo, we walked out to see the Gates of Paradise. Each one of the panels in the door was hand molded. But we found out that the door that we saw was not the original because at one point someone tried to break down the door by ramming into it and ended up breaking three of the panels.

After that we ended our tour and were given a few hours to explore and do some shopping. The first thing we did was head to the Ponte Vecchio which is a bridge that is lined with gold shops. All of the jewelery sold in these shops is hand made and absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately the price tags were a bit high.

After the Ponte Vecchio we headed back into the city to find a quick lunch and check out the flea markets. In the flea markets there were a lot of scarves, leather bags and jackets and morono glass items. It seems that most people found some scarves and a few pieces of jewelery that they liked.

After some free time a group of us took a walk to the Santa Croce. Unfortunately you had to pay to enter and there was a very long line to get in. So we decided against it and found some Gelato instead.

After that it was a long bus ride home during which we mostly all slept again.