So we get to the hotel uneventfully and they have a bar that opens at 4pm. What more do you need for a good day? Although, I think I was a bit tired and confused the proprietors a bit. We check in and they obviously speak Italian. I answered them in French and Greek. Yup, I was tired and they got confused. Either way, we got to what would be they nicest room on the trip and we had our own courtyard to boot. Chris and Todd arrive about an hour behind us so we ave a little time to to do some recon. The Hotel is the ine neighborhood of St, Croce, which at first glance seemed a bit removed from everything. It turned out to be wonderful. To go anywhere to eat there was a short walk. Very convenient when the food was soooo good. Since Todd had just flown in that day, we decide to have a early dinner. We'd gotten very used to eating around 7 - 7:30pm but jet lag suck, so we fed Todd at 5pm. This is not easy because so many places aren't open. We went to the touristy spots and found an outside cafe on the Piazza della Signoria. Ok food but great scenery. And it allowed us to poke around the square and venture over the Ponte Vechio after dinner.

The next day, while Todd and Chris went off motorcycling while the kids and I did city tours. As I said before, not our favorite way of doing things but very efficient use of time and with the added benefit of people watching built in. This day had that in spades! We start out by going across the Arno River and up the hill to the Piazzale Michelangelo. Its were Michelangelo lived and a an incredible overview of the city. Since the World Cup was starting in a couple days, they had set up two huge screens for people to watch the matches. We drove by the Pity Palace and through lots of lesser know neighborhoods. We started walking at the Basilica di Santa Maria del Florence Cathedral  and the Florence Baptistery  probably one of the most recognizable sights in all of Italy  and from there headed to theGalleria dell'Accademia  Accademia Overview . Again our guide was an art major (I was thinking they all were; more on that later) She was very helpful in understanding the importance and significance of the pieces. Oh, and there is this statue of a Shepard that is kinda popular there too. All lechery aside, picture don't do this justice. He is beautiful to the point that you expect him to move at any moment. Mike's thing when sculpting was to focus on what made the person signif cant to history. That's why in his Piete in the Vatican Mary is a young woman while Christ is at his oldest. David's hand is the focus here as it is out of proportion to the rest of his body because it is what he slayed Goliath with. ( And you know what they say about guys and the size of their hands. I can't tell you how much I wish I was with a girlfriend instead of my teenagers. Didn't stop me from embarrassing them but .... I would have lingered more.) We have lunch on our own for we found a great little cafe for a quick cheap quick bite and headed for the afternoon part.

The afternoon was a quick trip up the mountain to Fiesole. If we had more time, I'd like to spend a day exploring up there but, ya gotto leave something for the next time. Back down the hill and we get dropped right in front of our hotel. Gee, that was a short trip. No, now we walk past Basilica of Santa Croce, Florence  As we start walking over the the Piazza di signore, we start to notice that the heat is starting to take its toll on some of our fellow tour members. While we stop for a gelato sampling we find we can't stand down wind for a guy fro Toronto. I know they have Right Guard there, what's his excuse... laying native.? Ugh! It was so bad a group from Texas even noticed and moved away from him. OF course, they were interesting in there own right. When we went to go into the Uffizi Gallery our guide mentions that no weapons are allowed inside so if you have any, give them to her and she'll give them back at the end of the tour. This guy pulls out a crocodile Dundee knife! Dude, I get your from Texas but you left the snakes there, leave the knife! We hit the highlights but just couldn't take the odor of Toronto anymore so we left the group.

For dinner tonight we tried one of the recommendation from the hotel. http://www.daqueiganzi.it. da Que'Ganzi Trattoria-Osteria  (Click the link and translate to drool over the food) This was the other restaurant we went to twice. Awesome, fantastic Tres Bon! In fact, if you go and see an origami flower on the bar, that's Paige's. This is where having to walk a bit after dinner really helps, because it was too goo to leave anything on your plate!