Top 10 Things about Florence

I didn't have much access to the internet last week, but here is a top ten list I made earlier in the week about Florence, Italy, where we were last Sunday and Monday.

10. Having Spaghetti carbonara in Italy.  For some reason, Americans can't cook it.

9. Gelato... what more need I say?

8. All the copied statues around the Uffizi museum--not the originals but they have all these great copies out in the open (a second David, for example).

7. Botticelli's famous painting, The Birth of Venus (otherwise known as Venus on a half shell)

6. Galileo.  He was born in Pisa, lived growing up in Florence.  Law of inertia... weight doesn't affect how fast something falls.  Yeah, that was him.  Known for saying, "Duh, what was I thinking" when asked a second time if he believed the earth went around the sun in the Inquisition. "No way," he said.  "I think that's what my sister said."  He was a model for anyone who doesn't want to get burned at the stake for being a closet heliocentrist.

5. The Ponte Vecchio.  Apartments on a bridge... just not done in recent times.  "London bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down..."

4. Dante Alighieri was from Florence and basically invented the Latin language with his Inferno.

3. The leaning tower of Pisa.  Ok, ok, it's not in Florence, but it's close and it is amazing.  Knock one off the bucket list.

2. The cathedral of St. Maria del Fiore.  I couldn't believe how huge this church is. The color and detail on the thing all the way to the top boggled my mind.  And these things are suddenly just there.  You're walking down a street and, boom, you're looking at this amazing, humongous thing.

1. Michelangelo's David statue.  We've all seen it in pictures and various places, so I was a little surprised to find that it is actually amazing.  It's about 3 of me in height and the detail down to the fingernails is just astounding.  I've concluded by far that Michelangelo is the greatest artist of all time.