View of Florence from the top of the hill
This morning we checked out of our hotel and boarded a bus bound for Florence. About an hour later, we met the same city guide who had shown us Lucca. We started at the top of the hill above Florence where we took in a spectacular view of the whole city. On the way down to the center of Florence, we saw signs of the devastating flood that had happened in 1966. It had killed many people and destroyed art and literature masterpieces.
When we reached the square where there is a cathedral and several statues, we learned that the statues placed there were warnings to possible invaders. One is an exact replica of the David statue. The original is inside a building in the city. Tickets were sold out months in advance. I am glad that we saw it in 1983 when the city was not as touristy.
When we were given free time to see whatever we would like to see, our guide took us to a store to see the process for making marble designs on paper. That was very interesting. They were selling products like pens, pencils, journals, cards, and other things covered with the marbled paper. Of course it was pricey. Our guide bought a present for his girlfriend.
The rest of the afternoon, Linda and I just wandered around looking in store windows. We bought some delicious gelato cones at a place our guide recommended. We sat in a local church where it was cooler. Yum! We looked for the Gold Corner where Mama and I bought jewelry. We found it only when we were leaving the city. I wasn’t impressed with what we saw in the windows. The rings are thinner. Since they are 18K gold, they would wear thin much more quickly. Besides, the gold price per ounce has skyrocketed.
After Florence, the bus stopped at a World War II American cemetery where 4,401 American servicemen are buried. I was one of the eight people in our group who folded the flag just before we left.
Then we were driven to our new hotel in the countryside, Villa Sabolini. We sipped wine then later had dinner.
Dessert