This morning we woke up later than we had planned and still felt tired. Between going to sleep after midnight the past few days, and waking up to FaceTime, we have not been getting as much rest as we would like. Also, our room (while nice) is on the street and there is a lot of noise that comes in the open windows. There are two sets of shutters and two planes of glass we can close to shut out the sound and light, but then there is no breeze. With the breeze also comes a few mosquitos... so it is really a toss up whether to have the windows opened or closed at any given point. The fan that Marcella gave us does help tremendously. And with access to a fridge, we can have cold drinks whenever we want. :)

In any case, we FaceTimed this morning with some night owls . :) Thanks to Ann, Jason, Jenn and my mom and dad for staying up late to chat! After that we went and did our big sight-seeing thing for the day. Unfortunately for you, Acedemia does not allow photographs inside. But it makes for a much better museum experience at the time. You wander around and really look at the exhibits, without trying to worry whether you are able to capture it. :)

I was impressed by the statue of David. I am amazed that Michealangelo was able to do such a sculpture freehand without ever making a model first! Walking down the hall approaching David are Michealangelo's Prisoners. These unfinished sculptures really give insight into the process he took to carve the statues out of the marble. We listened to our audio guide again. There wasn't as much information on this one, but there are really only the few really important peices in the small museum. And walking by the other paintings and sculptures, I didn't feel like I was missing much. The plaques were in English as well as Italian, so anything we were curious about, we could read.

When we were done there it was about lunch time. So we walked back to Marcella's and made ourselves sandwiches. We laid down for a while and I made the mistake of asking Bryan, "What time do we need to catch the bus to visit San Giminiano?" He said we should probably do that now. So we got up and ready to leave. In doing so, I realized I had no more clean socks . I courageously fished out yesterday's pair and got ready anyway, but I was exhausted.

It is a good quality in a husband when they recognize the state of their wife and are able to change plans accordingly. I have a good husband. :) He encouraged me to lay back down and continue my nap, while he ran some errands. I happily took off my used socks and laid back down. :) While I slept, he went to the Bancomat to get some cash, the train station to make reservations for our train travel tomorrow, and the grocery store to stock up on bread, drinks and snacks for tomorrow. Then he laid down for a rest himself.

The downside of his new shoes, of course, is that they are not broken in yet. The others were giving him sore soles because the padding was pretty much gone, but these are putting a little pressure on his heel (although they fit well). He got a blister yesterday and has been walking gingerly today in spite of using moleskin. I figure it is just as well that we didn't go to Voltarro, or San Giminiano, or both (as we had planned). A day of rest was in order.

Round about four o'clock (16:00 here) we roused ourselves and took a trip to the laundromat around the corner. €14.10 later, we had washed and dried our laundry, as well as enjoyed some gelato down the street. :) I had kiwi/banana and chocolate . It was like eating a banana split. Yum!

After we got back from laundry, I got to pick our dinner spot out of the guide book. I read about three pages of suggestions, and finally chose a spot with cheap pasta and free pitchers of ice water. It was cafeteria style, and they served us up a tasty meal for a total of €10.30. Can't beat that! :)

We walked back to Piazza della Signoria (the square with all the statues). In this case, third time was the charm. It was not crowded, and we were able to walk around the various statues and enjoy them. Then it was time for, what else? Gelato! :) We were pretty choosy this time, going into various gelatorias to find one we liked the look of. Bryan walked away with a cone of chocolate and chocolate chip, and I tried the peach/amaretto/chocolate (which wasn't any good at all, it turns out) and washed it down with dark chocolate.

We returned to Marcella's and paid our bill. Then I asked to get my picture taken with her, since she has been such a highlight of my visit here in Firenze. :) She bid us a good night by name with the cheek-to-cheek greeting (she teased Bryan about his black beard), and wished that we would have good fortune in the future. And that we would gain great riches. :) She is delightful.

We retired early to our room and had a small glass of limoncello. We need to get up very early tomorrow and will spend most of our day on the train. Various trains, really. Some of which need reservations, some of which don't. I didn't really follow what all we would be doing, and am so glad that Bryan is clever at navigating and planning these things out. The one thing I do know is that I am supposed to be able to get my picture taken with the leaning tower of Pisa tomorrow. Here's hoping that works out! :)

Sometimes, you just need a day off. This is true at home and while traveling. We were pretty beat from pretty much going full steam since we had gotten off of the cruise and a much needed slow day was in order. It was still a very good day, even if our schedule was somewhat less packed than the others.