Day Seven-May 17th

A great sleep! (But we were awakened at 2:30 am by a text on KK's phone-just David checking in with "Thunder" news.) Up around 7:30 & to breakie-just outside our room & pretty much the same old stuff-cheese, ham, rolls , coffee, cereal & eggs if you wanted some. Ok, get our stuff together & head for the bridge & our first "church " of the day. It is San Marco, founded in the 13th century & was a Dominican Monk Convent. The rooms, where the Monks lived, had frescoes on the walls & ceilings & were quite small. The main room upstairs had "The Annunication of Christ" by Fra Angelico and was quite awesome. An enjoyable morning. Out just in time to have our "lunch" in the Piazza di San Marco & a pleasant time it was! Now a little shopping before we head over to the "Galleria dell Academia "& our 3:45 appointment to see, mainly, Michaelangelo's "David". (10 E to get in.) We start with 3 Michelangelo sculptures- some unfinished works , one for his own tomb. There it is..Unbelievable! A 17' high colossal statue! You just have to stand there & take it in, but it is very over-whelming. (No pics ,please.) It was outside, in the square for over 250 years before they brought it into the museum in the 1700's. We go on thru the museum & view a lot of paintings by Botticelli, Pontormo & a hall of sculptures, before strolling back to see "David" one more time. Out into the streets at 5:15 & hear the bells of the churches ringing! Off to the Piazza to have some gelato before supper. We bump into our new friends, from Vancouver & chat a bit before stopping at a local spot-The Trattoria Mangiaoia, pretty close to our hotel. Upstarirs an away from the traffic & have a great meal! Spaghetti for me, a pizza for KK & gnocchi for Cami, plus our table wine, roasted potatoes & salads. We did do a bit of shopping on the "Bridge"..many shops on this ancient crossing, mostly jewelry stores, over the Arno. Back to the room to clean up, sip a Peroni & to bed by 11:00.