Artsy-Fartsy stuff!!...

Actually, both the "Galleria Academia" and Uffizi were enjoyable.  Academia is where the most  famous David is located and that's why it is crowded. It is small, we took our time and listened to an audio guide we had and were done in under two hours.

Then we went to Uffizi...it is more ART/paintings but the history side of it all was interesting. They dont want you taking pics either place but we snuck in a couple including an old piano (harpsichord) for Mama.

Tomorrow is a down day to wander and then Sunday we're off for a Vespa tour of the country side.

Today we go to the "BIG" two in Florence..

We have our reservations for 1200 at "Gallery Academia" which is where Michaelangelo's David is located now.  He was originally on the piazza in front of our building but in the 1800's they moved him to  the gallery to protect him from the elements.  They have an exact duplicate in place of where it used to be that Steph got pics of and I think we posted already....

Anyway, after that we have 330 pm reservations at the Uffizi gallery....we wanted to spread them out more but the tickets for Academia were the earliest we could get so we left as much time as possible to see it and still have time in Uffuzi.  Academia is a 20 min(or less) walk and Uffizi is right in front of our building.

Yesterday we saw "The Duomo" or the main church here built in the 1200's that was then the ONLY church....it was a status symbol for the city/states of that time. Pisa and Lucca and Sienna had huge new cathedrals so Florence had to have one and it needed to be the biggest and most spectacular,

 ...notice the people in the second pic.....

After that we were wandering and stumbled into the Medicci Ricardo Palace. The Medicci family was THE leading family of Florence and they were responsible for much of the development of the city as an art and history center over a couple of centuries.

...we're headed out to see Florence...

.....it's 1120 am here.... it looks like today and tomorrow are gonna be chilly and wet...good thing the sights aren't as far away here!!

Below are pics of us on the Ponte Vecchio bridge, a pic of the bridge, and a shot of the country side from the train ride up from Rome.

The Piazza side.

This is the piazza where we enter our building.

We made it to Florence.

Nice little apartment. Our window opens on the side of the building opposite the uffizi.  We are definitely still in heavy tourist traffic!

...after we left the Vatican...

....we strolled around that area, got some pics around the river, of a castle that is now a museum, and the Italian Supreme Court.....

 

...and here is Saint Salome on the left below, in a church we stopped in...

pics from Vatican day....

If you EVER think about going to the Vatican museum, I recommend winter time!! The crowd today was unbearable and this isn't even the really heavy time and  Tuesday is supposed to be the best day.

We had a good day, the Sistine chapel was  nice, and the rest of our walk was good.

We crossed the river and made it to the Vatican

Today we got our earliest start yet and headed for the Vatican. The museum was good but too crowded to enjoy.
We followed the herd and finally got to the Sistine chapel and we managed to find a seat where we sat and listened to an audio tour explanation of everything in it.

The Sistine chapel is the end of the museums. You exit back to the street you enter from. We crossed the street for lunch priced like we were inside Disney world.... then we walked around the outside to come into Vatican city in front of st Peters basilica. There were waaaaaaay too many people in line there so we strolled around the area n headed back to our side of the river. Stopped by Spanish steps on way. Next stop is Babbos for our last dinner there on this trip.

Our last dinner at Barbablu

There are two restaurants very near us where we have been impressed similar to Laleyenda and Great Southern Cafe at Seaside.....Barbablu is on the same street as our hotel (via Montebello) and has the most outgoing staff we have ever met. We stopped in there late one night on our way back in to grab a pizza for me and a desert for Steph to take back to the hotel. While Steph was admiring the desert case Francesco came out because 1: his english is the best of their staff and 2: he makes the Tiramisu and is very proud of it! Steph had already ordered a piece of cake that one of the other guys was packing up but she told him we'd be back to try his Tiramisu. We went back two nights later and they all remembered us and Francesco came over to tell me what he wanted us to eat......sooooo when the asst chef tells you what you need to eat, that's probably what you should eat....and we had an awesome dish of mussels over spaghetti.  When we had our last meal there for this trip last night we ordered a caprese (mozzarella and tomato) appetizer and from there we ate what Francesco brought to us..... we now know to only eat about half of everything!! We both hurt when we left we were so stuffed.

I forgot to post the Colosseum at night pics.....

Here are some.....

..this is the   basilica of constatine and other parts of the forum viewed from capitoline hill at dusk, this was all stuff we had been walking through the day before and to get this view was a great and different perspective.

...we didn't know why the riot police were forming but later figured out this was after some big soccer match and they were preparing in case the celebration turned into something like what happens in detroit when their nba team wins.

ya'll can comment now....

I didn't know how  to set it up but now anyone can comment so it should be easy and not require you to register or anything. If you have any questions about stuff we'll  try to answer.

ok so no catacomb visit...

We rode the subway to the general area and got out and looked around and decided to skip it. The feel of the area wasn't good, there were no italians just asians and arabs. We got a bottle of water and went back for more subway riding!

We did get back to Trevi fountain and toss in our coins to ensure we will be back one day.

We're gonna head to dinner soon to one of the two great places we have found nearby where they yell and wave at us when we walk by now. One of them tonight and one tomorrow night before we leave for Florence on wed.

Above are  a couple of pantheon pics .....didn't take a lot inside but I did get a vid just so you can tell how enormous the place is. Can't figure out how to post vid here so you'll have to see that when we get back home.

Church of bones..

Google it!! Kinda weird but worth seeing. No pics from there they won't let you. We then got inside the Pantheon and now we're having a snack and working our way to the catacombs.

It looks like a nice day to go for a walk

http://www.accuweather.com/en/it/rome/213490/weather-forecast/213490

We got back too late to post pics from our night time stroll to the Colosseum, today we are off to the Pantheon and then the catacombs.

Thought i posted these...

This is the view out our window tonight. We saw the Colosseum at night and went by the pantheon but it wasn't open. Tomorrow we go in the Pantheon then the catacombs.

The Pantheon is BIG...

....and it's also closed!!  LOL. On to see the Colosseum at night!

My shoes, 6 pair!! My husband has a tendency to exaggerate just a tad!!