Sunday was to be our day to take in two dress rehearsals for upcoming musicals in Florence.  On Saturday, I thought I’d look up where the auditorium was so we wouldn’t get too lost when we went.  To my amazement, the tickets said Friday and not Sunday like the fellow at the ticket office told us so that outing was not to be.  We both heard him say Sunday and we were both disappointed that we wouldn’t be going.  We’ll have to find something else to take in.

The Duomo in Florence is one of the biggest tourist attractions along with the Galleria dell Accademia where Michaelangelo’s statue of David is housed.  We thought we’d go to both of them early yesterday to beat the crowds.  The Duomo or Saint Maria del Flore as it is better known is an enormous cathedral in the heart of the city showcasing green, red and white marble and beautiful stained glass windows.  We have been in many churches on this trip and most of them have been much more elaborate, ornate and dark but this is the one we most enjoyed. When first walking in the huge doors, the vastness of the building takes your breath away.  The walls are decorated with a few marble statues and huge tiled creations that reminded me of tapestries. Two huge pipe organs towered over the front altar, one on each side and I commented how I’d love to hear them play. The centre dome was adorned with intricate paintings and surrounded by stained glass windows.  The whole church gave off a peaceful calm vibe compared to the more ornate ones we had been in before where we sometimes felt claustrophobic. Outside, the marble facade is an art piece with many alcoves featuring statues of period figures. The dome stands high above the church and we could have climbed to the balustrade and enjoyed the view but we chose not to.  It’s more for the fit and fearless. We didn’t even find out how many stairs there were. We simply knew there were too many.

Next stop was to see David.  We found the entrance of the huge building but the doors were not opened and so we walked around to find another entrance.  The doors to thw next entrance were opened but a sign said, “No entry, go to entrance 58”. That was the entrance we had just come from so back we went thinking we had missed something.  It said nothing on the door so we walked to another side of the building where the doors were opened and a man sat at a desk.  Joey asked him for directions and was told that the museum was closed on Mondays!  Why wouldn’t they simply put a sign on the door saying Closed Mondays?  That would be too easy, I guess. We will have to come back another day.

We were getting hungry by this time so started looking for a lunch place.  Tucked away on a side street in a residential area sat a cozy little cafe and we almost missed it as we weren’t’ expecting to see a cafe there. The menu on the board in the window gave us lots of options so we went in and were greeted by a nice young lady who ran to get us a menu in English and sat us at a table in the back.  The cafe was decorated in a funky style with small niches for sitting in, a huge mural painted on the wall, plants hanging everywhere and benches made from what looked like oil drums.  There was a lot to look at while we waited for our meal.  I had lasagne and I must say it was the best I’ve had since being here. Joey had her usual sandwich that she said was delicious.  There was a bar area at the front with a modern pattern emblazoned on the front and I thought it would make a great quilt pattern so I took some pictures.  A lady sitting at a table nearby thought it was funny that I was taking a picture and I tried to tell her why I was doing that but she didn’t speak English.  When I got back to our table, I opened my translate app and typed in “quilt”, and it came up with the Italian word, trapunta so I went and showed her and she said OH, BELLA – beautiful.  I love that app! We had a lovely time there and will certainly go back.

On our walk, we came across a man and his tow truck getting ready to tow a small car.  He put it on a sling contraption and simply swung it around to get it out. It reminded me of pushing a wheelbarrow, moving back ad forth to get it into position.  This car wasn’t in a really tight situation but I could certainly see how this type of sling could get a car out of a tight spot which is how they all park here.