Florence and Pisa

This past weekend we went to Florence and Pisa, Italy. It was a late anniversary trip. We took the train over on Friday, arriving in the afternoon. We first went to see Michelangelo's David statue. It was much larger than anticipated and has so much detail that is amazing. As Gene says, the old saying about large feet and hands doesn't apply here. His feet and hands are unproportionally large to the rest of his anatomy. Unfortunately, you can't take pictures, so we just have postcards and pictures of the replica, which is smaller. We walked around Florence and to the Ponte Vecchio and Ponte Santa Trinita, two of the main bridges crossing the river Arno. On Saturday morning, we got up early and went to Pisa! We saw the Leaning Tower and actually did climb it. It was a heck of a climb, another stair master from hell. It was amazing to see the Tower that you only see in commercials, movies, etc. We then headed back to Florence and went to see the Duomo, the large cathedral. We were going to climb the dome next to it, but there was a huge line and our tourist book suggested climbing the bell tower instead so you can get a better view of the dome and higher view, too. The walk to the top was 414 steps, 49 steps LESS than the dome. That was 3 stair masters from hell in one. Luckily, they put a few convenient stops just for me and the other out of shape tourists. :) Actually, they were just places for the bells. I do have to say the view was worth it, but I still hurt from the steps two days later!! We walked around a little bit more after that, but I was about dead from climbing two large structures and walking around town, so we went and relaxed for a while and cleaned up from the stair master workouts from the day. On Sunday, we went to see the Uffizi, an art museum that houses The Birth of Venus painting. Then, headed back to the train station to head home.