Florence

Florence, ah Florence.
I woke up today in the grips of the most beautiful sun seeping in from the door left ajar during the night, in the otherwise cave-like room. I got into the habit of jumping out of bed and swinging the door open so as not to risk missing any part of the day, but today I had that ray of sun coming through the door. I languished, I don't know when the last time I languished; I implore you to languish whenever you get the chance.

I had, up until this point in the journey spent a large amount of time by myself, ya know chasing after luggage and rectifying impetuous travel decisions. This was a day that I would have travel companions and, my own toothbrush and a choice of sweet summery dresses from my luggage retrieved.

Taking the Trentalia regional train into Florence was the most convenient means, so my travel companions, Nat 'n' Nancy, and I drove down the hill from the villa to the station. Now, if I had learned anything from the past arduous journeys it was how to expertly buy passage on a train using the most convenient ticket machines. I wowed my companions with my adeptness at the touch screen, in five moves I bought my ticket and walked them through the wonderful world of the modern touch screen ticketing apparatus, avoiding the old fashioned queue of suckers leading up to the human ticket seller...ahh technology.

Upon our arrival in Florence, we found a cafe where a right Italian breakfast of espresso and sweet pastries awaited us. After a selection of cornetti; we had a chocolate raspberry pastry and an almond croissant, with the most satisfying espresso. Now that we were filled with sugar and caffeine headed down the streets with a plan and a map, I felt it was best that they be the masters of the map...getting lost in a city by yourself is an adventure but with others it is mind numbingly frustrating.

Our eventual destination was Galleria dell'Accademia and the Galleria degli Uffizi, where we would meet up with brotha and sistah-in-law. So before that, we walked through the open air markets shaking our heads at the aggressive merchants and nodding at the friendly ones who just wanted to say "hi". We wandered to the Duomo and Baptistry. It was awe inspiring to enter the cathedral, I didn't expect it to be, but I held my breath walking into the building. It immediately brought to mind the memory of my mother as these religious experiences often do. Today, however, she was most on my mind as it was her birthday which she shares with brother Michael. On the train I had sent him a birthday greeting and a part of me almost did the same for her.
As Duomos go this one was rather plain compared to most according to the fun fact I overheard from the tour guide leading the line of  American tourists behind me. I circled around, eyes scaling the stained glass windows to the candles and lit a candle for Kathleen. I prayed a Happy Birthday Hail Mary, a fact that she would've pointed out with her sweet sarcasm how she was impressed that I entered a church and it had not collapsed behind me.

It was off to see the art and the naked boy David at L'Accademia. I had much the same feeling seeing David that I did seeing the Statue of Liberty for the first time. A photo cannot capture the immensity of the statue. It was really amazing to see such detail at such a large scale. After that we got a lunch in a trattoria close to the gallery then said goodbye to Michael and Amy until later.