Florence all day

We left the hotel at 9:00 this morning to head to the sights of Florence.  We had a walking tour of the Duomo, Santa Croce Cathedral, the sculptures in one of the piazzas, and gold and leather shops.  (No, we didn't buy any gold or leather.  Beautiful but very, very expensive!). Then we had free time for the rest of the day because we didn't do the optional tour scheduled for the late afternoon.  So Jake and I went into the cathedral and saw Michelangelo's tomb and Galileo's tomb.  Galileo was born the day Michelangelo died.  

After getting a small pizza for lunch, we stood in the line up for the Uffizi Art Gallery...took 70 minutes.  It's very large, full of sculptures, altar pieces, paintings from centuries ago, some European paintings...and seemed to go on forever.  It was amazing, but we were very tired when we finished.  Upon exiting, we got our bearings, found a little local place for lasagna, pasta and beer, and rested our weary legs and feet.  Then we headed back to our hotel to do things like write on the blog, read, etc.  tomorrow we are off to Rome with a stop in Siena.