Europe 2015: Day Eleven

Friday, June 26, 2015 (Day 11)

Florence, Italy

In the morning, as a group, we did a walking tour of Florence.  

Our first stop was the Duomo but we did not take the time to climb its heights.  

Next stop was Dante's house.  

The next stop on the tour was the Palazzo Vecchio with its magnificent statuary.  

After the tour, the relatives all decided this was a good time to go shopping.  I decided this was a good time to do a personal walkabout and get to know Florence.  I thought I was going to go up the Duomo but the wait was two hours.  Same thing for the David.  But Florence is so rich that it did not matter because I did a lot on my walk.  

The irony was that as I walked around I decided I had to see this old Roman ruin only to discover it was the Roman ruin right in front of our hotel.  The good news is I could use the bathroom in my room.  Below there are two views from our hotel restaurant's window.  

That night, after dinner, we walked the streets of Florence again, mining its richness on our last night there.  

Florence has left the building.