Day Eight - May 29, 2012

Florence, Italy

High Point: The top of the Duomo

Low Point: The only thing on the TV in English for background noise right now is this terrible Eddie Murphy movie.

Miles By Foot: 5

Today's Antiquities: The statue of David

Today's Weather: Cloudy in the morning, in the high 60s. Sunny in the afternoon and evening, in the 70s.

Tonight's Lodging: The Merlini Hotel, Florence

Touristic Events: The Academia, the Duomo

Travel Tip: Buy those things that let you skip the lines.

Daily Didactic

The day started with a breakfast of OJ and baguette, as we had finally found a functioning grocery store when we hit Florence yesterday. They had been impossible to find in the area of Venice we were in. Nourished, we made an eight block trip out of the three blocks to the TI (Tourist Information) office. Here we bought a "Firenze Card", a pass for multiple museums and the bus system. It was not cheap and its real value is that it lets you skip the long lines and go to the "reservations lines" at these places. We immediately tested it at the Academia, and just like that we skipped at least an hour long line and were in ogling more old paintings in minutes. Paintings are not why you go to the Academia, you go to see Michelango's statue of David. It was way bigger than we would have guessed and just really amazing to look at. From there we headed to the Duomo to buy another trick Theresa had studied up on, a guided tour. We got our tickets and had some lunch at the really great Central Market while we waited for the 3:00 start. The tour, again, let us skip some really monumental lines and got us an outside balcony tour that was both vertigo inducing and provided a beautiful view of Florence. We headed home, all touristed up, and celebrated with a good long nap. We rose later and went for a walk in search of a market for some more OJ and water and then called it a clever day of line skipping.