Today my roomies and I went to Santo Spirito. It is a GORGEOUS chapel (though it doesn't look fancy from the outside) that was one of the last works of Brunelleschi, and many say one of his greatest works. The inside of the church is breathtaking. There's a copy of Michelangelo's Pieta inside as well as original paintings from the Renaissance that depict bibilcal scenes. The church is quite massive inside. It complements the Duomo - the outside of the Duomo is beautiful, but the inside is quite plain, whereas Santo Spirito is plain on the outside and breathtaking on the inside.

Yesterday I went to see the the real David inside the Accademia Museum. He is perfect. Shivers ran up my spine when I first saw him; he has survived for over 500 years, imortalized into stone; he is the statue that symbolizes an entire movement and changed how men see themselves... (can you tell how much I love this statue?) Of course, I still prefer my David. My relationship with Michelangelo's version is quite one-sided!

Later in the day, I went to the Uffizi museum. It's so nice: the Uffizi is literally a 3 minute walk from my apartment and I get in for free because my program gave me a museum card that gets me in to all the state museums free of charge! YAY! So I can look at David or go to the Uffizi every day if I want (and I probably will!). Inside the Uffizi, I saw Botticelli's famous Primavera and his Birth of Venus. I then spent a good three hours viewing other renaissance works. I'm going to go back soon and see the rest.

Since my knee has been holding up okay, I've begun a running regimen: I jog to the Piazza de Michelangelo! This entails jogging along the Arno river for a bit and then running up the equivalent of 9 flights of stairs to the piazza that overlooks the city of Florence. It's quite a beautiful view. I look at it for 5 minutes and then run back down the stairs. My goal is to be able to run the whole thing with only a minute break at the top!