In Florence

We’re heading off to Montepulciano today – our last long ride and a place that all the Italians are happy for us to be visiting. Anyway, not a lot of time so I’ll make the report quick. The first night here we dined at a place recommended by the concierge and split a steak Florentine, which is basically a 2lb porterhouse grilled up. A delicious change of pace after so much pizza and pasta. In the morning, we went to the cathedral and climbed the 463 steps to the top of the dome. They go through the old medieval hallways and are steep and you get to stop on the ledge on the inside of the dome right where it begins. From there, you go up further to the top of the dome itself and outside by the copula. Fortunately, we did this early in the morning before it got too hot because those stairways would have been a sauna later in the day. Later in the day we visited the Museum Accademie (sp?) and saw some wonderful renaissance art from Florence along with Michelangelo’s David and other sculptures. Finally, we went to the Uffuzi and looked at all of their art – there is LOTs of it! All very wonderful and would be silly for me to describe. We had a late dinner at the Hard Rock Café – we were in the mood for a burger and some music. When we arrived, there was a 2-3 wait for eating inside! I guess that bit of Americana has gone over well as it was full of Italians. Luckily, we were able to get an outside seat and enjoy some burgers.