So all of the superlatives that I have previously used to describe the sights of Europe that we have seen (i.e. beautiful, amazing, breathtaking, stunning); all of them can be used to describe the Statue of David. He is magnificently presented in the Accademia Gallery, as soon as you turn the corner you see him bathed in natural light from the specially designed skylight above him. As a long time fan of the male form, to see it so perfectly represented was truly wonderful. J Our tour guide, an older gentleman named Antonio, provided many insights into Michelangelo’s life, art and philosophy. Sadly, we could take no pictures inside the gallery.

Our day trip to Florence passed by so quickly, that I’ve decided the next time I visit Italy I would like to spend more time in the city and the surrounding areas. It is gorgeous. The university students of Florence were demonstrating throughout the city – complicating the already insane driving conditions by marching down the tiny one way streets; but it didn’t affect us too much, we just walked instead of taking the bus. We also visited the Duomo, with its delightful green, pink and white façade outside and kind of frightening frescos of the Last Judgment inside. We walked out of the demonstration area and boarded the hop on/off bus for a quick tour of some of Florence’s other sites. Then it was back to Rome.

This morning on the train to Florence, I was about to make a comment to Selena about how I felt quite posh travelling in the first class car of the train. It was at that exact moment that the pear juice box I was drinking from (Luca packed us breakfast-to-go) made a super loud gurgling noise. Not so posh after all.

We can hardly believe that tomorrow is our last full day of our holiday.

See you all soon,

stace

p.s. I’ve taken over 1,700 pictures, so I feel a little sorry for any of you who may come over in the next while because you will see them all.