En España...: Italy - Asis & Florence

After Rome and Naples, we got up and headed to Florence. Since it was only about a half-day of travel, on the way we stopped in Asis, the birthplace/origin of St. Francis of Asis. It was a pretty small town, but the church was interesting, as it had several different levels and then the catacomb-esque tomb of St. Francis. Asis had to be my least favorite of everything, but that's only because there wasn't really anything to do, but the city was cool because of the history is has with St. Francis and everything.

In the plaza in front of the church in Asis.

Lunch was in Asis and then we continued on to Florence and went to the hotel.

Saturday was spent in Florence. The morning was spent being led around by our guide and the afternoon we had free. We hit the Duomo (the call it that, but duomo is Italian for cathedral), Santa Maria del Fiore, again, but only from the outside. A small group of us decided to pay the 6.50€ to enter the Gallery of the Accademia, where they have Michelangelo's David. That statue was worth every penny. It's breathtaking: in size, in detail, in everything. We also stopped and saw the Ponte Vecchio and the Uffizi Gallery (but didn't go into the gallery as the lines were ridiculously long). Florence was nice because it was really easy to find our way around as we just wandered through the city, stopping at the different markets and sights that caught our eye. While we were there, about 8 of us took the opportunity to buy some Italian leather items: 2 girls bought leather gloves and the rest bought leather jackets. It was the first time I'd ever had to haggle the price for something and I think it went pretty well.