Florence and Assisi - Europe part 3

Florence! This was probably my favorite city of all (Assisi was a close second). This is the Duomo!
We snapped some pictures on the famous Ponte Vecchio.
Hailey and Joel



We are all very excited because we have just located the memorial to Dante. I can't express how excited we are here! In this same church we also discovered the tombs of Galileo and Michaelangelo too! This was our first stop in Florence and we happened to duck into this church and discovered this wholly by accident- a service was going on in another part so we had to be quiet.
Perseus slaying Medussa.
David - I must say we learned so much from our local guides on this trip. It was fascinating to learn about the relationship between the ruling Medicci family and Michaelangelo and some of the ways Michaelangelo expressed his feelings about the Mediccis in his art work. The local guides were very well educated and had a real love for their cities.

The Duomo is one of the most beautiful churches I have ever seen.
Here we are at dinner with some of the other travelers in our group, including our wonderful tour director, Ali. The people we traveled with were just fantastic!



We enjoyed a nice stroll back to our hotel after dinner.

Of course, we had to make a gelatto stop.


Florence was such an amazing city. I particularly loved it because of the accessibility. We walked absolutely everywhere. We toured the Pitti Palace, (formerly the home of the Mediccis) which is now a museum, and sat in the gardens. The weather was perfect - in the high 70's. We roamed little back streets and walked through more churches and cathedrals than I could shake a stick at. We enjoyed free time in the afternoon which really gave us the opportunity to explore on our own. Hailey decided to follow a little cobbled street to see where it led and wound up finding the house of Galileo. Let me repeat. She found Galileo's house! She kept walking and found an open door, and remembered that our guide said, "if you find an open door, walk in" (I think she was speaking about cathedrals, but no matter) Hailey wandered in and found a back entrance into the Boboli gardens.

Florence is remarkable. I can't wait to go back!

The next day we were on to Roma! Our guide had a little surprise for us and we made a wonderful stop in Assisi.

Jordan, Joel, and Jim

Welcome to Assisi!

Assisi is a little village that remains virtually unchanged - which is what made it so special.
One of the beautiful basilicas you can visit in Assisi.


The temple of Minerva! We went inside - it has been converted into a church.


We hiked to the top of the hill. The views were beautiful!Eric, Joel, Hailey, Jim and Jordan

Penny and Charis
Enjoying a little pizza!

delicious!
Here I am with Hailey and Jordan
Beautiful Assisi!