Florence and Venice

At the crack of dawn on Thursday morning, we managed to get ourselves over to Termini to catch our train to Florence. Arriving about 10:30am, we discovered the baggage check had been shut down, so we pulled our straps a little tighter, got our bags relatively comfortable, and lost no more time before getting a move on it. We walked around the Duomo

before going to the Uffizi, a museum known for its Renaissance art.

Out front, they had statues of various artists that were shown inside, such as Da Vinci:

and Michelangelo:

We then went over to the Academia to see Michelangelo's 'David', as well as moldings and casts made by the artists before they started the real thing. Again, we weren't allowed to take pictures, but I did pick up a postcard...

Afterwards we went back to the train station and were on our way to Venice! We had a decent meal, then sat on the Grand Canal watching the boats go by for a while before turning in for the night after a long day.

On Friday, we got up and went to the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, a museum of modern art (paintings and a sculpture garden) where this woman lived and was buried.

It, like the Maxxi, was a nice change of pace.

We then went over to San Rocco where Tintoretto did a lot of this work and where his 'Crucifixion' is, his most famous piece which takes up a 30'x 20' wall. Lindsey, Tyler, and I then broke off from the group and bought a few things and wandered a bit, finding the Rialto Bridge:

before going to San Marco, known for the church:

as well as the pigeons (Tyler):

(Rob (L) and Tyler running at the birds:)

We then explored the town some more before heading back to the hotel to drop off packages and then went to dinner where we met a couple from England who had been to Venice a few times, so we asked them what they're favorite part of Venice was and what they'd recommend doing. We struck up the conversation for so long that we didn't realize the restaurant was closing and ended up getting kicked out. Haha, oh well.

This morning, Lindsey and I got up early and were on our way to the Murano island, known for its glass. We saw a demonstration:

He made a pitcher:

then a horse:

and then his assistant blew this, let it cool for a second, then broke it as the finale:

Walking around, we found this sculpture:

So the most amusing part of the weekend? Seeing all these gondolas lined up, coming down the river:

However, my favorite picture that I took is probably of the Duomo in Florence: