Day 12 – Florence – Monday June 4th

Chris, Rob, and I woke up around 10am and headed out straight to the Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore, or the Duomo for short. It was epic. By far one of the most beautiful buildings so far on the trip, the colors were amazing. We got in line with the other tourists. A young boy played an accordion very well while we waited in line. I tipped him a little bit and took his picture. The inside of the Duomo was impressive with its beautiful floors and painted ceiling. The floor is usually not the center of beauty in a building, but here it definitely was. We went into the museum in the basement of the building to see the ruins of the original cathedral, including some relics and tombs. We headed for a small cafe soon afterwards where I had some great spaghetti and some gelato.

Next, we headed for the Palazzo Vecchio. We headed down the wrong street though and ended up next to the oldest bridge in Florence, the Ponte Vecchio. We happened upon a plaza next to the palace and the Uffizi that had a replica of the David and other beautiful sculptures, so we took some pictures. Instead of going into the palace though, we headed for the Museo di Storia della Scienza. The Uffizi and the Accademia were both closed since it was a Monday; the Galileo museum based on the history of modern science had to do. It was filled with scientific instruments, celestial globes, and telescopes that were very beautiful and had great historical value as well. Highlights were the telescope Galileo used to see Jupiter’s satellites and Galileo’s right, middle finger. We happened upon a Georgia tech group that was following a guided tour through the exhibit. We just kind of tagged along, and we saw some demonstrations of the teaching tools in the exhibit.

We left and headed to check on our reservations at La Giostra, the 26^th best restaurant in Europe. From there, we went to the Basilica di Santa Maria Novella to take a look inside. Though its chapel had free entry, the church itself had an entry fee. Nothing pricey, but it seemed wrong for a church not to be free for the public. We made it inside and just sat in awe of the place for about fifteen minutes before walking around. It had a beautiful interior with many paintings and sculptures.

We left for the hotel afterwards to get ready for dinner that evening. Eight of us met at 7pm to head over to La Giostra. Dr. Rast had recommended the restaurant to me just before I left, and he made it out to be the best meal of my life. After a four hour meal with five courses and great service, it really was the best meal of my life. They treated my friends and I like royalty. They gave us all sorts of free food and drinks. The owner, royalty from two lines, came out and described the origin of all the food we ate. Most of it was direct from Tuscany. We had some chocolate cake made for us that apparently was made using a family recipe of his, passed down by word of mouth. The owner looked pretty goofy, with unkempt, long white hair and a chef’s hat on. You never would have guessed he was so important until you noticed pictures of him with John Travolta and Brad Pitt on the wall (just name a few of the celebrities there). Afterwards, we headed back for the hotel since it was nearly 12am anyway.