European Vacation 2024

“I will see you again. But not yet. Not yet.” (You wanted another Gladiator quote. There ya go.) Gonna have to wait 3 more days.  Almost there! Our last day in Florence  First. One Aperol spritz and one limoncello spritz please  A refreshing bubbly start to our day Puttin’ on the Spritz Today we do the walking tour of Florence  We walk around the Piazza della Repubblica  thru the Battistero di San Giovanni and into the Brunelleschi dome (check my spelling on those babies Pretty sure I got ‘em all right) Mary Magdalene. (I know that one) And now the fun part  Climbing up the steps to the top of the dome   Some of the craziest narrowest steps you’ll ever encounter Most of it was 3 steps turn 3 steps turn… for 463 steps Then the circular section Reminded me of Matt’s basement steps. Except a few more Views of Florence from the top Now we begin our journey down Lunch time Tomorrow. Last train ride of the trip. 2 hour excursion to Venice 

After a hectic train ride here (way overbooked, people standing on top of people, one person looking like she was about to heave at any moment, no place for luggage, no seats either btw, we arrive in the gorgeous city of Florence.  After checking into the Hotel Adler Cavalieri we walk the streets   First thing we see is this church. Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore  Look at the detail of that building.  Outrageous  We arrive for our tour of Accademia Gallery  And the climax of this tour  Statue of David From every angle I see that stone you’re hiding in your right hand David  Uffizi Gallery  Our next destination  A collection of priceless art from the Italian Renaissance  Including Leonardo da Vinci  Michelangelo  And Raphael and Donatello  (I though they were crime fighters in NYC) After an 1 1/2 hour tour thru this place (if we were on our own we’d be in and out in about 5 minutes) I think I reached my museum max ...

 3 hour train ride to Pisa View from Grand Hotel Duomo A 2 minute walk and we’re on the lawn with a gelato  Mom doing the classic Matt pose Some more adjustments  Whoops. Too much A note on what I said yesterday about Italy's attitude toward us. Now even tho our hotel today is as ancient as yesterday’s hotel, the people here are so nice, polite, respectful and happy to interact with us. So maybe it’s a Rome thing. In any case… another great day.  Off to Florence tomorrow 

 Today was the day. Our tour of the colosseum  Roma First we walked to the Vittoriano  The Italian national monument  Guarding the tomb of the unknown soldier under the statue goddess Roma Don’t mess with these guys. Haven’t seen them move once After watching Gladiator about 100 times seeing the colosseum was something you could say I was looking forward to It did not disappoint  Although before the grand prize we toured the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. Too many pics to show but here’s just a few Julius Caesar grave site (to be accurate he’s cremated) but people still leave flowers for him to this day Temple of love   Finally. It’s time! We enter the colosseum. Omg  I’m about to battle Tigris of Gaul They brought him out of retirement to fight me The moment arrived  I had to reveal myself to Commodus  “ My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius Commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions and loyal servant to the true empero...