Day 3 Florence

Day 3 Florence
We got a jump start on our day by waking up at 7:30 in order to beat the crowd to climb the Duomo. I got a warm chocolate criossant on the way and Emily kept up her coffee addiction by having an Italian espresso. We got to the Duomo and there was not a sole in front of us. We were able to walk right in and begin our climb on what felt like a never ending staircase up the cathedral. We finished the first section and I was now faced with the detailed cieling on the inside of the cathedral. Compared to my expectation of solid white, the colors and all the angels shocked me. The next section led us right to the roof of the Duomo and we found ourselves in the open air overlooking the whole city. It was a great chance for me to use my brand new camera. This memory was something I will keep for the rest of my life.

We hussled back to the hostel to join the bike tour they were hosting for people staying here. Our guide's name was Stefano. He was a native Italian and was very entertaining. Our whole group was riding along the crazt busy streets and ringing their bells the whole time, as if we didnt stick out enough. This was pretty much a whirl wind tour of everywhere worth going in Florence. It was a nice break from all the walking we did the day before, which gave us time to emjoy Stefano's good sense of humor and learn about the some of the legends of Florence . We are staying in a great hostel that has a ton of amenitities and kids our age. This is different from como because there is alot people and easy to start conversations here. Getting the chance to see the market exposed me to some of the Florence cutlure and the traditional trade of the people here. The market surprised me in many ways. I hadn't ever seen so many purses and didn't realize how much leather sold. There were vendors after vendors and row after row of all kinds of leather goods. We went to the Uffizi. Em loved it. Enough said- not my style. We came back and I got in the pool, which was supposed heated. Not true. However, I did manage to fall asleep in the sauna after. Dinner, gelato, and called it a day. Exhausted and headed to Cinque Terre tomorrow.
Ben