Day 4: Florence and Pisa

Day 4 was by far the most relaxing day.

We woke up and went to Florence where we spent the morning until about after lunch. There's not much to do in Florence other than walk around. There were two important things that we wanted to see, which were Michelangelo's David AND the Duomo Cathedral.

The Duomo Cathedral is situated pretty much in the center of Florence and is a gigantic structure made entirely out of Italian Marble. The marble inlay work is incredible. Having gone to India and seen the inlay done to create the Taj Mahal, its incredible to see the amount of detail spent in making Il Duomo. The other fascinating thing about it is its dome feature. The dome itself has no architectural support for its curved ceiling. It was designed and engineered by Filippo Brunelleschi. Its awesome.

DOME

ALL MARBLE

cool angle!

After the Duomo, we went to Galleria Dell'Academia where the David is housed. The David is imposing and amazing. Its about 10-15 feet in height and was sculpted from one block of marble. That block was said to have been bad to carve because it was vein-y and would easily crumble. However, Michelangelo decided that there was something great inside and produced the David. If analyzed closely, you see that its not proportionally accurate, however the attention to detail is stellar. You can even see the veins carved into David's hand. SO COOL. 

Oh and ya, the David is naked. 

After Florence, we hopped on a train and visited the quaint town of Pisa. Near the coast, Pisa was very touristy (understandably so) but gorgeous. The three structures comprising the church, tower, and something else (i forgot) are made of white marble and so detailed. Also, I had to take the typical Leaning Tower Picture. Enjoy!

I'm the reason the tower is leaning

Awesome

End of Day 4.
Ro <3