Today we got off to a much earlier start than yesterday. Determined not to miss breakfast, Mom woke me up at 7:30 AM... only to discover that breakfast doesn't even start til 8:00. THANKS MOM. (Bwahaha she is here and won't read this.)
Anyway, we managed to pry Trevor out of his bed at around 10:00 AM and set out for the day. While waiting for Trevor to get up, I went to the grocery and got some lunch. We walked a few blocks to the art museum where Michelangelo's David is kept.
During the summer, the line to get in stretches around the corner, so there's a lot of graffiti on the walls from people who are bored while standing in line. I liked this unicorn, which I stopped to take a picture of even though we didn't have to wait to get in:
We saw not only the David but also Michelangelo's "slave" sculptures. Pretty incredible.
From there, we walked down towards the Arno and did some window shopping along the Ponte Vecchio, the famous bridge in Florence which is lined with jewelry stores.
Trevor shops for Kiki's Christmas present:
I really liked some of the more unique pieces, such as the jeweled rings which looked like animals. This owl seems quite displeased:
A whole case of jeweled butterflies - reminded me of a museum case of specimens. Grinter, if by some random chance you are reading this, I thought of you while I was looking at this, because it's two things you love: bugs and expensive stuff. :)
A delicate cameo necklace in an antique jewelry store:
After crossing the bridge, we walked east along the river. The river was flowing quite quickly, probably due to the melting snow from the storm that slowed all the flights down.
We climbed up, up, up to get to the Palazzo Michelangelo - a scenic view over Florence.
Trevor gazed out over Florence and practiced his modeling poses:
It was a little rainy most of the day but the clouds provided a dramatic backdrop for our view.
We found a bench in a nearby park area and ate the lunch I had packed - clementines, brie, crackers, and chocolate. We returned to the overlook to take a few more pictures and then decided to head back down towards town.
I am not the only one in the family who compulsively pets stray cats:
We got back to the hotel as evening fell and took our now customary late-afternoon naps, then set out for dinner. We ate at a lovely restaurant a few blocks from the hotel. I tried to take some pictures but my pictures of the food didn't look that appealing and Trevor looked creepy in all the pictures he was in so you'll just have to IMAGINE our dinner.
I had a first course of spinach and ricotta tortellini with a mushroom and truffle sauce. MMM TRUFFLES. Trevor and Mom both had pasta e fagioli soup. My main course was rabbit (sorry, Jeremy!) with artichokes. Trevor had clams with linguine and Mom had veal and veggies. Trev and I finished off our dinner by splitting some creme brulee. Good eats!
Mom spent several minutes at the end of dinner practicing asking for the check in Italian. She has looked up the phrase in the guidebook several times and was all geared up and ready to go...
She got the waiter's attention, took a deep breath, and said, "The bill, please?" in beautifully articulated English. Oh Mom. Luckily we have plenty more meals and she has vowed to use her phrase soon.
We had a nice evening walk home. Mom inspected the gigantic doors of this church:
The rain had long since stopped but the wet streets still reflected the lights leading us home. :)
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