Bells will be ringing....

April 20th--We had a better plan for our day today so we headed out and went to the Santa Maria Novella church which is located really close to our apartment. In fact the bell tower at this church has become our 7:00 a.m. rooster. Our first morning, Sunday, the bells went off at 7:00 a.m. and we just thought it was to let everyone know to get up and go to church. Oh no, they go off every morning at 7:00 a.m.! The worst part is it's like a 2 minute song when they go off; not just 7 dings! So, no late sleeping in Florence. Given the church's proximity to our apartment, we had passed it a couple of times so far and didn't think it to be overly impressive from the outside. However, we were amazed by the inside. The long, 330ft nave appears even more massive thanks to a 14th century perspective illusion. In addition, the church is full of Renaissance paintings and statues. The centerpiece is Masaccio's The Trinity, the first painting of modern times to portray three dimensional space. We left the church and headed towards the Duomo. We stopped off at a great Italian sandwich shop for a cheap, but filling lunch. The sandwiches were so big that no one was able to eat more than half and the kids were only able to eat 1/4 each. We took the rest with us and had them for dinner. We then got in line for the climb to the top of the Duomo dome. We met a mother and her 2 adult daughters from Ohio behind us in line. They were on a tour of Italian shrines and had broke away form their group to climb the dome. They were great to talk with and made the time in the line pass quickly. Once inside we began our 463 step climb to the top of the dome. While we have climbed many towers at this point, this was a climb like no other. After climbing for a while, we emerged into the inside of cathedral at the base of the dome. From this vantage point, we were able to see the amazing frescoes on the dome interior up close. It also was impressive to look down into the church. We then headed back into the stairway for some winding, steep steps to the very top of the dome. The kids are troopers on these long climbs and candidly, I think they really enjoy them. While it's tiring for us adults, its great fun for the kids. We emerged through the top of the dome. From this vantage point were were able to see amazing views of Florence and the surrounding Tuscan hill country. After a few minutes to catch our breath and rest, it was back down. We left the Duomo and stopped off for an afternoon gelato snack. We then headed over to the Bargello. This museum houses a great collection of Florentine sculpture. We saw works by some of the greats including Donatello, Brunelleschi, Chiberti and Michelangelo. We saw 3 different David sculptures which are interesting to contrast with Michelangelo's masterpiece. Also, with all of the "nude" sculptures, our kids are getting an early, advance lesson in anatomy. In fact, one of the funniest moments was after leaving the museum. We were walking and Abby looks at me and says, "Daddy, when am I going to get little boobies?". I, of course, quickly directed her to her mom! Oh, well, I guess something has to balance all of the churches we see. Once we left the Bargello, we just sorta "wandered" the streets. We passed through the Piazza della Signoria, the main civic center which includes the Plazzo Vecchio and the Uffizi Gallery. We then continued our "wander" until we ended at the Arno river with a view of the famous Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge). As we were making our way back to the apartment, we passed a gelato place that seemed to be calling our name. We convinced ourselves that the first gelato of the day was really dessert from lunch and this was our late afternoon snack. Have we mentioned that we love Italian cuisine? We finished our walk with a purchase for the kids. Given their love of Disney movies, they have been begging for a wooden Pinocchio (which are EVERYWHERE here). After listening to Abby ask for one about every 5 minutes, we finally broke down at the end of the day and bought them. It was fun watching them put on their marionette performances once we got back to the apartment.