Day Nine: Florence

My birthday started with a walk around Florence.

Piazza Santa Trinita

Ponte Vecchio

Chiesa dei Santi Michele e Gaetano

I took my sweet time walking around Il Duomo di Firenze taking pictures. When I was about halfway around the building, a man from Kansas needed help pulling up his ticket to visit the Duomo. Unfortunately, the website wasn't working but it was nice to talk to another American.

The difference between the side that was recently cleaned and how dirty the building can get.

The baptistery.

Piazza della Repubblica

Chiesa e Museo di Orsanmichele

Palazzo Vecchio

Loggia dei Lanzi

Our next stop was the Uffizi Gallery. 

I found a different view of the Duomo on the roof of the Uffizi Gallery.

One of the exhibits was the Adoration of the Magi San Donato in Scopeto by Leonardo da Vinci. It was recently restored and now you can see all of the detail in the painting.

We took a break at our place before heading to the Accademia Gallery.

After seeing the hall of plaster models, everyone else was ready to head back. I stayed because they also have a Museum of Musical Instruments. 

We all met up and walked across the Arno to try to find a place for dinner. We stopped off at a restaurant, but they focused a bit too much on their selection of truffles. We took off and wandered around trying to find another restaurant.

Pitti Palace

We ended up at a restaurant that was next to the truffle one. It was a fantastic time! It is called Caffè Bellini and the waiter was hilarious! He kept saying things like "I am here to work for you!" and he would sing one line from two different songs.

It was a weird birthday since I didn't spend it with Jonathan, but it was still a great day!