Today has been a busy day and we are back at the hotel to rest our tired feet for an hour.  This morning we visited the Campanile.  It is a bell tower directly next to the Duomo.  It is 414 steps.  That’s right, 414 STEPS!  Once at the top you have breathtaking view of the city on all sides.  You should have heard all of the huffing and puffing when a new tourist reached the top.  There was a guy who worked at the top and I imagine he is in pretty good shape.

We spent the afternoon at the Uffizi Gallery, Europe’s first modern museum.  It was first opened to the public in 1591.  Some of the beautiful Renaissance art had been there since then.  It was so big with so much to take it we could have spent all day, but our feet said no.

Outside the Uffizi Gallery is the Piazza della Signoria, which is the most well known of Florence’s squares.  It was where the famous bonfire of the vanities took place in 1497. 

On our way back to the hotel we enjoyed our first gelato, which we both loved of course!  The shopping in Florence is full of jewelry and leather.  We almost bought leather jackets today, but decided to look around a bit more.  It started raining as soon as we got back to the hotel.  We have been lucky that this has been the only bad weather of the trip.  I think it may have stopped already. 

Tomorrow we are going to see the David.  And we plan to climb more steps than we did today to get to the top of the Duomo.  Ciao.