Today we toured Assisi. We took in all the st Francis sites. We went to the church he built which is now in the Middle of a cathedral they built around it. We walked through his rose garden. We even saw a dove that was nesting in his statue. We then went up to the mountain top city to see all the sites of his life and his female compatriots (st Clare) sites. We went through several churches, an ancient temple, Roman temple several beautiful piazzas, all before...

So today we packed up to be ready to leave Florence tomorrow and then took the 11am train to sienna. It was nice to have a slower start to the day. In sienna we walked initially to il campo. I thought it was super cool. I loved about thinking of the Palio horse race they have twice a year in this tiny for a horse race mideval square. I also think it’s ridiculous that they have an outdoor chapel that they bless horses and riders in before the race and then righ...

So today we completed our tour of Florence. We started the day by heading to the duomo square. We started with the museum which contains most of the original art from the cathedral. The highlights definitely were amazing. Donetello’s Mary Magdalene, Michelangelo’s pieta, burneleschi’s bronze doors. I am starting to realize that donettello is likely my favourite sculpture. There is usually just one subject. It usually captures the reality of the subject ra...

Wow today was a busy day. We started at the Uffizi gallery. It was enjoyable probably because it was not busy yet. There were many pieces of great artwork but there were no single show stoppers. So it was enjoyable but I don’t think I would put it in the must do category that most people have it in. I think Trapper agrees. Then we went to city hall. It was a cool quasi castle kind of thing with a big audience hall but not totally my cup of tea. We then went...

Today we had an early start 815am at the academia. We saw David. I have to admit I was underwhelmed. He is very large but he is not well proportioned and his head is not well formed if you asked me. I did like the prisoners, also by Michelangelo. They really do look like they are breaking out of the marble. By the time 845 rolled around it was starting to get too crowded for our tastes and we took our leave. We checked out the basilica of the annunciation. We wa...