Viva Italia!

Day 11- (FYI- This is my third time attempting to post this. The story about the other two attempts is too long and painful to recount.) We knew that there would be some serious driving involved today, so we gave the kids the option of staying on the ship or going with us. Madison was the only Carrell child to go on our grand adventure (she didn't get to choose). I felt a little guilty about leaving 5 children on a ship in a foreign country. However, I knew that they were safe and having a lot of fun. Shelby, Claire and Emery spent their day in Camp Carnival and had a great time. Jake and Kailey spent some time at the camp (since they are the "older" kids they can check themselves in and out without a parent present) and the rest of the time together. We told them that if they left the room, they had to be together (the buddy system is alive and well!). They were great about it and had a good time with each other.

Danny, Dawn, Cheri, Madi and I had a wonderful day! We went to Pisa first. I kind of thought that the tower was just by itself- but it isn't. It is right next to a pretty church- the Duomo- and another building called the Baptistry. They are really lovely. We had a great time in Pisa- so don't believe people who say that there is nothing there!

Then we drove through the Tuscan countryside to the city of Florence. If you love art- you definitely should visit Florence. We stopped at the Duomo first. It is just incredible! The outside is so beautiful. The inside is much more simple but has a very cool fresco on the ceiling under the dome. We also saw the outside of the Baptistry that is next door.

We felt like we needed to see Michelangelo's statue of David while in Florence. So we went to the Piazza della Signoria to see it. Unfortunately, it is being restored (well, the copy is and we didn't have time to go to the museum where the original is...) so we saw the shadow of it under the drape- and the almost lifelike picture on the covering. We did see several other statues around this area and my favorite was Perseus holding up the head of Medusa (kind of gory but way cool). I realize that I am not an art afficionado, but couldn't these amazing sculptors add a bit of clothing to their art?

My favorite piece of art was the bronze doors on the baptistry depicting scenes from the Old Testament. They were created by Lorenzo Ghiberti. The are absolutely incredible!

Tomorrow we will attempt to see Rome.