Finding a gold mine

Today may have been Crystal's favorite day in Florence.

We had nothing on the agenda, and while I had planned on getting up early to once again view the sunrise, we slept in until around 9:30 and hit the streets around 11. We found a great pastry shop down the street where I had a chocolate filled bigne and the best caffe' americano I've had since I was here. I'll be back.

Our main destination was the Ponte Vecchio bridge, which is an old structure that houses tons of small jewelry shops spanning the Arno River. Crystal just wanted to see it if nothing else.

She was fascinated by the shops, and spent a good bit of time window shopping. It was fun to see the view from the shops, which was a straight shot right down the Arno.

And, yes, she did make some purchases on the bridge. I may be going shopping for a leather jacket now . . .

After that, we made our way to the Palazzo Pitti, which was a large palace built by the Medici family when one of them contracted tuberculosis and wanted to move out of Florence. Behind it is the Giardino di Boboly, or the Boboly Gardens. I would not want to be their gardener; the place is huge.

It involved some pretty steep hikes, but once we reached the top of the garden the view of the city was very impressive. The Duomo is very prominent, and seeing the houses and buildings stacked on top of one another is very picturesque.

We only saw part of the garden. It is so huge that we did not see all of it. It was a hot day and we began to get tuckered out, facing a pretty long trip back to the hotel.

We wound around some side streets to reach our hotel, stopping at several shops along the way that sold produce, olive oil, books, ceramics, leather goods, and many other things. It's amazing to wind through the centuries-old streets. They have seen foot traffic, horses and wagons, and now have to put up with fast-moving taxis and scooters on those same cobblestone streets.

It's truly a beautiful city.

At one point in the day, Crystal mentioned she would like to see one of the churches in the city. The lines to get into the Duomo (and everything else) tend to be long, so I really hadn't held out much hope.

However, on our way back to the hotel, I saw a door leading into a chapel. I grabbed Crystal and we ducked inside and were instantly amazed.

The Ognissanti chapel was huge and beautiful, ornately decorated with paintings of the Crucifixion, the Virgin Mary, and the saints. Two frescoes that were rescued from the flood of 1966 are also displayed. It was amazing.

We got to see our church. One that we had passed numerous times on our way to and from the hotel.

You gotta keep your head up.