Florence, Pisa, and Northern Tuscany

Andiamo! On to the land of the Etruscans! I could have sat and watched this guy paint all day. It would have been neat to paint a picture of him painting the dome on the bald spot on his head.

The basilica in Florence

The was a medieval toilet in the palace in Florence. There is a hole that drops all the way to the street where someone would supposedly sweep up whatever dropped out. This was like on the 4th floor so whatever dropped would drop with some speed.

This is a view from the bell tower in Florence at the Palazzo del Popolo.

The dome of the cathedral of Florence

Not sure if that gold ball or my forehead is shinier.

Rachel on the way down from the bell tower

This was one of the last stones placed on the tower with the stonemason's name and his age. I thought it was kind of cool.

The tower we climbed and Smiley

I took this from a window on the way up the tower

No wonder we couldn't find a place to park our scooter!

Rachel wanted these shoes and they were a mere 3 grand

Rach couldn't decide whether she was happy or sleepy.

The cathedral again

This is not the famous David but it was too long of a wait to go to the galleria and we were not going to wait in lines on this trip. I overheard a guide saying that many appendages were aggrandized to celebrate the gift of the body. Try to pick out which were aggrandized and which ones weren't.

Pretty creepy but this is for if the palace is attacked then archers could shoot through at the backs of as attackers as they came up the stairs without being seen.

Nothing like a good ol' fashioned wrestling match! I guess they were playing by prison rules.

The palace in Florence had paintings covering every inch of the interior.

Eat up Rach its been a long day. Its difficult to tell whether that pasta is going in or coming out.

Us in front of Ponte Vecchio which is full of stores selling gold jewelry made in the region.

You can see Rachel's disgust above about where they are storing the wine

Ponte Vecchio

There were frescoes all over the walls of this building in Pisa. I don't remember what it was called but it was like a cemetery

I hope my sepulcher is this ornate

That cemetery building in Pisa again.

The door of the basilica in Pisa

The baptistery in Pisa in the Piazza dei Miracoli

Boom there it is! Just like I promised! Those people up top of the leaning tower don't have to worry now that they are in the strong arms of Rachel. Next time we will travel to the southern hill towns of Tuscany and the village of Montepulciano where Bella saved Edward from revealing himself to the people in the timeless classic Twilight...the second one. You can imagine how happy Rachel was about that.