It was cold, overcast and windy, a perfect day to ride, but we were eager to see the city.  Firenze (Florence in English) is capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and is Amazing!We understand why ten million people a year would want to visit this city, we just didn’t expect them to all be here on the same day.This is the birthplace of the Renaissance and has been called the Athens of the Middle Ages; incredible history everywhere, we just seem to focus mostly on Santa Marie del Fiore

look at this door(and this is a door to an out building).The Florence Cathedral is one of the most incredible we have ever seen.  Covered in marbles and immense; it is the fourth largest church in Europe, 502 feet long and 381 feet high.  The city has statues everywhere, on buildings, in squares and some covered in gold.

There is also the Palazzo della Signoria, better known as the Palazzo Vecchio (English: The Old Palace) and a store filled with everything Pinocchio.Not sure who other than Pinocchio could fit in this car.

Besides all the history, this town is a mecca for sightseeing, all kinds of shopping, especially known for their leather goods, fashion (Gucci is from here) and eating, we cannot begin to describe it!  But would recommend coming here while still gainfully employed and not retired; just so many things to buy!!! We’d also recommend staying at least a week; we barely scratched the surface of this city and never made it to the other side of the river, which also looks interesting.  SO glad we decided on this side trip, well worth it!

All this walking creates quite the appetite.Not loosing weight this trip with all this pasta, but we are SO enjoying it.