Florence

On Wednesday we drove to the Venice Mestre train station and turned in the rental cars--2 Fiat 500L's. We then took the train to Florence. It was fast, comfortable, and cheap. (Barbara had found an outstanding deal.) Upon arrival, we checked into our hotel and headed off for a walk. Very quickly we found ourselves at the Duomo (Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore). The cathedral is famous for its baptistery doors by Ghiberti, its campanile by Giotto and its dome by Brunelleschi. Unfortunately for us, the Baptistery was undergoing renovation and we were not able to get close to Ghiberti's doors.

The campanile and the cathedral itself, however, have recently been cleaned and are striking:

We toured the inside of the cathedral and everyone but Jim was up for the 460-step climb to the top of the dome.

Barbara suggested a restaurant for dinner and all three couples had the Florentine steak--a one-kilo T-bone for two. They didn't last long:

Breakfast at the hotel was excellent. We even had a view of the Basilica di San Lorenzo across the street:

After breakfast, we headed off for our 8am reservation at the Uffizi Gallery, one of the premier art museums in the world. In addition to paintings by Leonardo, we saw the Madonna and Child with Five Angels by Botticelli. 

We also saw Botticelli's well-known Birth of Venus and La Primavera. Perhaps the most interesting painting was the Baptism of Christ by Verrocchio (with help from Leonardo). I had heard about it in art history class 35 years ago! Art historians attribute the angel below to Leonardo.

After the Uffizi, we walked around town for a bit before meeting back at the hotel. We then walked to the train station and took a fast train to Rome.