Florence

Florence!!!  Beautiful.

 We parked up on a hill above the city, near this church.

We loved Florence.

Ponte Vecchio

(The Old Bridge)

The Arno River

 Crossing Ponte Vecchio

Julius on Ponte Vecchio

 Naomi on Ponte Vecchio.
Gelato on Naomi.

Somewhere in Rome Julius saw a David statue and couldn't stop snickering. "I spy a naked statue" became a fun game for the kids. Julius really wanted to go see the "real naked statue" in Florence. This is the replica that stands in the square where the original used to be.

Naomi spied a naked statue.

Julius said this guy looks like he's saying "What are you looking at?"

 Julius noticed that this pigeon landed in a funny spot.

 Pasta for lunch at a local place Dad knows, not really any tourists there.

Trattoria Anita

Church that was originally a granary.

All of the original statues are now in museums and replicas stand outside.

 Donatello did this statue of St. George

 First glimpse of Santa Maria dei Fiori

(St. Mary of the Flowers)

Brunelleschi designed the dome

 Julius said "That's the prettiest dome I ever seen...in Italy."

 Then we headed to the galleria to see the David.

 This was one of our favorite things we saw. It's really amazing. We stayed for a very long time just admiring and letting the kids snicker a little more.

So funny to Naomi.

She kept saying "He needs some clothes."

 Did I mention it was ridiculously hot again?

Then we came out of The Galleria and it had rained!!! Out of nowhere.

It was even a little bit cool.

I couldn't have been happier.

Blessings.

 One of my favorite pictures of these two.

Brunelleschi's Dome

Brunelleschi's Dome

 Then when we came out of Santa Maria dei Fiori it absolutely poured blessings!!! Everyone was huddled at the door of the cathedral except Naomi. That's my girl.

 Perfect day in Florence.

Oh! And we had the absolute BEST gelato we had anywhere in Italy. There was a gelateria dad knew of so we walked by on the way to the car. Amazing. 

Melon (cantaloupe) was my favorite, everyone's favorite. And watermelon was a close second. Their lemon and black cherry were delicious also. 

Dad also tried a watermelon smoothie...so good.

I may have ordered 3 different cups...just for me.

 Cold but happy.

 Julius says to me...

"If I lived here I'd definitely get one of those."

 Ponte Vecchio

The Bronze David statue up on the hill where we parked.