This morning we took another tour of the city. We saw the Duomo (Santa Maria del Fiore), Piazza della Signoria and Santa Croce. Santa Maria del Fiore is one of the coolest looking buildings I have ever seen. It is made with many different types of stone, each one a different color, and even when you are standing right in front of it, it almost has the appearance of being a painting rather than a building.

Right across from the Duomo was the Florence baptistery. In 1401, Brunelleschi (the architect of the Dome) and Ghiberti were the two finalists in a contest to design the doors for the building and Ghiberti's designs won. He used the lost wax technique to cast them in bronze and the results were the beautiful and unbelievably three-dimensional Gates of Paradise, depicting scenes from the New Testament.

After the tour of the city, we went to the Uffizi Gallery and our art history class had a tour for that as well. The Uffizi was the place I was looking forward to seeing most on this trip and it definitely lived up to my expectations. There are so many famous paintings and sculptures there, you would need at least a month to see everything. It was incredible to see Botticelli's Birth of Venus and La Primavera, Raphael's Madonna of the Goldfinch, Titian's Venus of Urbino and so many others in person. It is certainly a place I plan to visit again when I'm studying in London.

After the gallery, Sam, Ali, Joe, Alexa and I walked over to the dome and found a cafe where we could have lunch. I ordered a tuna panino and it was absolutely delicious! As someone who doesn't eat a lot of meat, it has been a little tricky finding foods that I like and I am so sick of pizza, I don't think I'll ever eat it again, but the tuna was a refreshing change.

We finished lunch and met the rest of our tour at the Accademia, another art museum in Florence. Several of Michelangelo's sculptures are found in this gallery, including the prisoners, and the David. The prisoners look as though they were never completed, but the way they are trying to escape from the blocks of marble they are trapped in makes it seem as though Michelangelo may have planned it that way. It could be a symbol of the soul leaving the body or the spirit leaving the earthly realm. As you walk through the hallway of prisoners, you get closer and closer to the David. The seventeen-foot statue is made out of proportion to be better viewed from below, and it is every bit as impressive as they say.

As we stood in the gift shop of the Accademia, Heather and I started talking about how we both wanted to see Masaccio's Holy Trinity in the Santa Maria Novella. The church wasn't very far, but it was about to close in an hour and they stop letting people inside about half an hour before. We decided to chance it and set off for the church, with Willa and Jen joining us as well.

We made it in time to get in and it was worth the trip. The fresco was one I spent a great deal of time studying during art history last semester, so it made seeing it in person even more impressive. I was, however, a little surprised by its location in the church. It is right across from the door, but quite a distance from the altar, with very little surrounding it. It seemed as though there may have been other items and paintings there before, but now it is almost out of place. It is definitely a beautiful work and one of my favorite pieces. It was one of the first examples of perspective used in painting and the triangle structure gives the painting strength and stability.

After leaving the church, Willa and I decided to walk to some of the shops in the area. We went to the Ponte Vecchio first. The whole bridge is lined with jewelry shops, but everything is so expensive. As we moved closer to the dome, we found a market with all sorts of leather goods and souvenirs. We walked around for a little while before they started packing up to go home and Willa suggested that we make our way to a leather shop near their hotel. There we found beautiful bags, jackets and belts. She had purchased some shoes for her dad the day before, so the woman gave us a good deal on the purses we bought.

We stopped at the hotel to check on plans for Ashley's birthday and found that instead of going to dinner at 6:30, everyone decided to meet at 7:30. Willa had plans at nine, and was no longer able to go, so I went with her to grab something quick to eat and got a gelato for myself. Then, at 7:30, we all met on the steps of Santa Maria del Fiore and walked to the Hard Rock. The wait was about two hours, but Ashley really wanted to get American food and I think we were all in agreement that it was worth it.

While we waited in the Piazza, we drank beer and went for a carousel ride. It was a beautiful night. After about an hour and a half, we went into the restaurant, but we still had to wait another hour and a half before we were seated. We were able to stand at a table near the bar, order appetizers and listen to the live band, which helped to pass the time a little, but when we were finally seated, we were so happy to be off our feet. It was probably around 11:30 when we finally started eating, but I had the most delicious ribs, which made the wait worthwhile. After dinner, we had another fun trek back to the three hotels.