European Vacation...

Day 4:
More Florence, aka the “cradle of Renaissance” (la culla del Rinascimento). [For more details on Florentine art, check out The Museums of Florence.]
Dennis and I got up a bit early for breakfast and walked around the Piazza Di San Marco, then on to the Accademia di Belle Arti for a viewing of Michelangelo's David. It’s much more amazing in real life--pictures just do not translate the awesomeness.
Back to the hotel to pick up the rest of the crew, and then we hit the streets again for The Duomo (Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore), which has the largest brick and mortar dome in existence. We spent some time inside the Battistero di San Giovanni (the Baptistry), with its beautiful and detailed ceiling mosaics. The north and east doors were created by Lorenzo Ghiberti (although these are apparently replicas--the originals are in the museum nearby).

The mosaic ceiling in the Baptistry.

The Duomo.

Lunch on the Piazza Signoria.

Henry enjoyed his macaroni, of course!

After lunch we toured the Uffizi Gallery, where we were able to see some masterpieces such as Boticelli’s Birth of Venus and Caravaggio’s Bacchus, plus lots of other Renaissance works by Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael (plus some non-ninja painters).
And the day’s not over yet! Onward to the Basilica of Santa Croce, which is a beautiful church that houses the tombs of such guys as Michelangelo and Gallileo, as well as lots of other interesting pieces. It's also the largest Franciscan church in the world.

A relic from St. Francis of Assisi, from the collection at Santa Croce.

Henry and Grandmom were happy to head back at this point, but we pushed on to dinner at Trattoria ZaZa. Maybe the best meal of the trip so far. It was a party in my mouth.