Day 9: Academia & Uffizi

While we might still look and feel a little tired, we felt back to our old selves this morning. With another delicious breakfast from Carla and a call to Academia confirming that they did open at 8:30,  we set out, fingers crossed, that they'd be selling tickets at the door. There were hords of people and many different lines, but we hopped in the right one. Two and a half hours later, we were walking into the museum! It was worth the wait to see David. He was huge, grand; standing 14 feet tall under a glass dome, he controlled the entire gallery. Photos weren't allowed, nor would they do the sculpture justice.

We explored the Piazza di San Lorenzo, which has a market and food market. We grabbed a pizza in the newly renovated upstairs. I ordered what I thought was a veggies and mozzarella pizza, but it ended up being sardines and spinach... I tried a piece, but ended up having to pick the sardines off. I also tried a chocolate granola bar from a vender, which was delicious! We stopped by the train station, wandered around, ducked into a few stores and ended up at The Uffizi Gallery. We waited for about an hour and a half (in the shade, thank goodness) and finally walked in!

The Uffizi Gallery is u-shaped and we followed Rick Steve's audio guide through the museum. With room after room (I think we went in something like 48 rooms) of paintings and statues, it was nice to get a tour if the highlights and interesting pieces of the gallery. Honestly, I felt like Kiera Knightly in Pride & Prejudice when she is going through Mr. Darcy's gallery in his estate: in awe of the beauty. We walked through the gallery for about two hours and then wandered in and out of stores to work up an appetite. 

We ate at a place on a side street by the duomo. We got free bread, so Kristi was happy, and they had good wine, so I was happy. After a leisurely (and long, since we still aren't sure how to politely ask for the check) dinner, we walked home. We gave Carla our laundry this morning and we found it folded on our bed. She's been so wonderful to us! We're calling it a night since we'll be up early to travel to Rome!