saluti da Firenze.

...I realized as I was going through the photos from yesterday and today that having four of us here means a lot more people photos...and a lot more photos of me and Sara. and that makes me really happy.

My first impression of Florence is that it is old. and it seems proud of it. Aging gracefully, if you will. The two girlfriends who've joined us here have known me since before both Katie and Sara were born. This city is the perfect celebration of long-time friendships, where you see the whole of life - good and bad and everything in between.

All four of us arrived on little sleep (and Sue and Francie were adjusting to timezone changes from the US). We decided yesterday would be a success if we explored a bit and enjoyed few meals. We did...and bonus scarf photo after dinner!

That's Sue on the left, Sara, me and Francie. On the way to dinner we noticed that our street has a special shrine...we can only hope it means good things for all of us this week!

Today the two big things were the Duomo and (for Sue and Francie) the David. We left the apartment before 10am and didn't get back until nearly 6pm. Here are the highlights.

The Duomo. absolutely stunning on the outside. and a great landmark (especially now that I know it runs east/west and not north/south...lesson learned the hard way...)

It's beautiful on the inside too, especially the painting in the dome

...up close...

That up-close view is from the way down...yep! all four of us climbed all 463 steps to the outside of the Duomo. This was a highlight of the trip for sure!

We celebrated after with pizza and a toast - 463 steps!

...much walking later we had our first gelato. mine was mandarin and blackberry.

We made our way back home via the Uffizi (we have tickets to see the inside on Thursday)...

and the Ponte Vecchio (aka "the fancy bridge").

And now it's time for fresh makeup...and dinner. More soon. Ciao!