We drive to Florence where our local expert guide takes us on a walking tour of the Duomo, Giotto’s Belltower, Piazza della Signoria and the Basilica of Santa Croce. Enjoy a demonstration of Florentine leathercraft. Tonight join the locals at a restaurant or club.
Today I was up at 6:15, again. We were off to Florence at 7:30am. We arrived in Florence around 12 or 1 in the afternoon and Hans took us to a leather demonstration. I decided everything I was interested in was more than I was willing to spend so I was quickly off to explore. Anne, Nicola, and I took a slow shopping walk up to the academia to see the David. Lucky for us it was cultural week in Italy so we didn't have to pay to get in, I like free stuff! While on line we ran into Mike who was also going to see the David. The David was quite impressive, the detail was amazing (I never saw a statue with veins before), no artwork I would see after could compare to this one.
After that we walked back to the meeting place while doing some shopping and stopping at a church, I believe the Cathedral - Baptistery. At 4:00 we met up with the group in Piazza Santa Croce to get the bus to the hotel. While walking to the bus it started to rain.
After we checked into the hotel we had until 6:30 to be ready for dinner, giving
everyone ample time to make themselves pretty. At the optional dinner, which was quite nice and a lot of fun, I sat with Roshni, Kreena, Nicola, Kamala, Mikki, Yolandi, Lisa, Kristen, Anne, Kenny and Vicky. I wasn't overly impressed with the anti-pasta, but the pasta, lasagna and steak were all very good. We had a wonderful opera singer for entertainment, and some dancing music, I even did the Chicken Dance. Yes, I had some wine with my dinner too. I also dragged Simon onto the dance floor to dance and got to dance with Alberto. At 10:30 we were rounded up to leave, as tonight was the nice for Space. I decided not to go, opting to have drinks at the bar with a bunch of other people who didn't want to go to space. Unfortunately, the bar in the hotel was closed, so ended up just hanging out in the room with Nicola talking till 12:15.
