We overslept.  Somehow, I managed to shut the alarm off the night before instead of turning it on.  We missed the beginning of the morning tour, but Julie had the great idea to call the tour company and find out if we could meet the tour at the Pitti Palace when it was scheduled to arrive there.  Luckily, the tour had first driven up to the top of a hill to get a look at Florence from above, so it was not going to be arriving at the Pitti Palace until about 10:30am.  We quickly got ready and grabbed breakfast at the garden terrace of our hotel.  We then walked across the Ponte Vecchio and straight up the main street on the other side of the Arno all the way to the Pitti Palace . . .

The palace (seen above) was once owned by the Pitti family, but they lost it when the Medici family decided to ruin them after the Pittis took part in an assassination plot against one of the Medicis.  Eventually, one of the last of the Medicis took over the palace, enlarged it and made it what it is today -- an awe inspiring piece of architecture with its frescos and trompe l’oeil artwork, not to mention the paintings and furniture pieces.  This was Julie's favorite part of the trip.  Each room was a revelation apart from any of the great art to be found hung on the walls.  She swears that eventually she will have her house decorated like the Pitti Palace (or at least one room).

There are also some fabulous gardens located behind the Palace -- the Boboli Gardens -- and a separate museum in another part of the Palace that contains the family jewels.  Our tour did not cover these parts of the Palace, so Julie made me promise that we would find time to come back and see it all on another day.

The tour then continued on to the Duomo . . .

This is the underside of the dome of the Duomo.  It is truly spectacular.

Here is a close-up of some of the detail of the underside of the dome.

Here is the knave of the Duomo, which is mostly done in the Gothic style.

The tour was just about over at this point, and we wanted to see the crypt of the Duomo, where you can see some of the original Roman ruins on which the Duomo was built, so we ditched the last goodbyes and stayed inside the Duomo to look around some more.

We stopped for our daily lunch - gelato - and then went back to the hotel to drop off the few trinkets we'd purchased at the crypt store.  While on the morning tour, I had met this nice man from NY, Larry, who was in town on business, and had decided to go see the Jewish Synogogue during the lunch break before meeting for the afternoon tour.  He and Julie and I had discussed the afternoon tour while at the Duomo, and, after some consideration, Julie figured that we should go sign ourselves up for that one as well.  We had planned to go see Santa Croce and the David ourselves anyway, so it seemed like a good idea to avoid lines and get a trip up to Fiesole in the bargain . . .

Here I am in Fiesole, after having just practically had a heart attack climbing the steepest hill I've seen since the worst ones in San Francisco.  That misty valley behind me is the Arno River Valley, where Florence is located.  We were told by our tour guide that Fiesole is considered to be the mother of Florence.

Here is a closer look at the Arno River Valley.

After almost missing the bus back to Florence (we were shopping), we all went back into town and walked over to Santa Croce, where people like Michelangelo, Rossini, Machiavelli, and Gallileo are buried . . .

Because of the Jewish star on the facade of Santa Croce, I originally thought it was the Synogogue.  It turns out that the architect was Jewish and that the use of the Star of David was his signature.

The first picture is of the Michelangelo Memorial.  The second picture is the Dante Memorial.

This is the Machiavelli Memorial.  Although he had been exiled by the Medici, he was eventually forgiven and allowed to return to Florence.

The first picture is of the Rossini Memorial.  The second picture is of the Gallileo Memorial.  Gallileo was actually considered to be almost a heretic for his views of the world and our place in it, so there was great controversy as to whether he could be buried here or not.  It took some time, but eventually he was allowed to be buried here.

The tour then continued on to the Academia, where we got to see Michelangelo's magnificent David . . .

This picture cannot do him justice.  He is truly spectacular.  I will never forget the first time I saw him years ago -- it was such a surprise that he took my breath away.

We parted ways with the tour at this point and walked for a bit with Larry before bidding him farewell and wishing him much success on his business trip.  We were on our own for the evening, so we decided to eat at Mamma Gina's, where we had yet another fabulous meal.  We sat next to a darling couple from New York and talked to them all through dinner (when I wasn't coughing, that is).

After dinner we did some window shopping and then retired for the night.  After all, we had to get up early the next morning to meet with the wedding party for our trip out into Chianti country.

Use the links on the left side of the page to see days two, four, and five (including the Wedding Day) in Florence.