Day Six-May 16th

We're up at 6:00 am & no time for breakie..we've got a taxi ordered & a train departure at7:15. No problems and it's a sleek Eurostar, and plenty of room to view the beautiful countryside, with farms, vineyards, hay fields & rivers. We arrive in Florence at 8:50, right on time & depart the train for a short taxi ride to our hotel, The Annalena. More narrow streets with cars, bikes , scooters & buses everywhere. Here we are & up three flights of stairs to the hotel & a lovely room with a garden view & in by 9:15. We do eat a little breakie while we wait a few minutes for the room to be readied. A quick change of clothes & off we go to "town". It's supposed to rain, so I Pack some gear-it doesn't rain however. Across the "Ponte Vecchio" (bridge) over the Arno River & into the main part of Florence-some shopping, gelato & to the Palazzo Vecchio & the Santa Croce Church-Basilica actually. It is a Gothic church & one of the finest in Italy, over 700 years old. Quite an awesome place-tickets 5E. Galileo is buried here & a few famous Florence opera conductors/writers. The wooden ceiling is exquisite! Out in to the courtyard & a museum before we exit & stroll thru the streets to the Piazza Della Repubblica, with many vendors, bars & restaurants. We pick a good looking spot for lunch- The Grotta Gelph- & our waiter is nuts & we have a good time & a great meal. I order spaghetti with clams & he goes wild! A great choice he says! KK gets spaghetti carbonara & Cami the BIG salad & the house wine for all three. Now we're ready for the next church - The Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore( the Duomo). Another great church & now out to the "small" baptistery of San Giovanni. It doesn't look like much from the outside, but the entire dome is done in mosaics, sumptuous small bits of tile & glass. Spectacular beyond belief! Various scenes of Christ, John the Baptist, Adam & Eve, etc. The outside doors are in a massive gold/bronze relief & were described by Michelangelo as the "Gates of Paradise", done by Ghiberti in 1330. Into the Cathedral (The Duomo) & it is massive & in the shape of a cross:90 meters high, 153 long and 170 years in the making. There were many great archeticts overthis period with Filippo Brunelleschi doing the gigantic dome in 1420-36. It is quite a site & under a 5-year renovation. So what's next? First a walk back toward the hotel & a stop at a local grocery & some "fixings" for supper, lunch, etc-bread, wine, cheeses, beer , fruit. (Pretty good buys as the beer is only 1.29 E & the wine is 2.09!) Back to the room and some breaking of the bread & sipping wine( spodie odie). We shower, blog, write post cards & talk about The FAB day! In bed by 10:00 & off to slumberland. Did I mention the Medici Family? They were the powerful rulers around here for over 300 years.