Today was our last full day in Florence. Our original idea was to go to the Academia to see the real David, then hit up Brunesschi's Dome and climb the 463 steps to the top to see all of Florence and walk through the town one last time. We were incredibly motivated, but soon realized we wouldn't do even half of that. Lol.

We had reservations to go to the Academia so we were off early for that. While the whole museum itself it fairly small (in comparison to the Uffizi) we are glad we went. Seeing the real David by Michelangelo was amazing. It really is a sight to see. And even though I wasn't supposed to take photo or video inside I couldn't resist and took some secretly with my camera. Little did I know that when I was tasking a photo of another Michelangelo sculpture I also took a picture of an employee who was dressed very casual for a docent. ANyway, she sort of yelled at me in Italian and I just told her No! No! I'm listening to an audio tour! (which I sort of was, just not at that very moment, so I wasn't COMPLETELY lying) ANyway, I know she didn't buy it, but she let me get away with it and she left to go yell at some other loud Americans. She probably hates us. Lol. Other sculptures that we saw that were really cool were called Michelangelo's Prisoners. Its the group of statues that he never finished for various reasons and so it looks like portions of human bodies trying to break their way out of the stone. It's really neat. We also saw Rape of the Sabine (I think its called that anyway) Its this sculpture that is meant to be seen from a 360 degree angle and its about a time when these people came into this village and stole all the women in order to reproduce for their own village. THwe scene shows a man carrying off this woman and her husband is trying to stop the man but to no avail. You see the woman and her husband look at each other for the last time before she's taken away., Its a really moving piecve. I loved it when I learned about it in class, but seeing it in real life made me love it even more. For Michelangelo to create such raw emotion out of stone is really something unbelievable.

From the Academia were were off to the Dome! BUt then we saw the line and found out there waws no way to skip the line so we decided that our day would be better spent eating and drinking at a café and searching around for a watercolor painting of Florence from a local street artist.. We were at the café for easily 2 hours plus, walked around the south side of the Arno River, ate more gelato (you really can never have enough), found our painting, went back to the hotel to freshen up and then out again to a local trattoria called ZaZa. A recommendation from one of our hotel staff and it was excellent. Even though we did not do everything we originally set out to do, it ended up being one of our favorite days. Oh! I almost forgot to mention that while we were having lunch, these two Italians were yelling at each other from across the piazza! It was so funny! THey would yell at each other and then he would get in her face and then he would laugh at her while she was yelling at him. It was great to see. People watching here is a whole new kind of entertainment. Italians are so expressive, I love it. And while we were eating dinner it randomly started raining again. It will be the third time since our trip that as soon as we sit down for dinner it rains, and by the time were done, it stops. It also rained our last night in Venice and tonight is our last night in Florence so maybe there is a trend. WHo knows? It does make for great pictures though!