We had arranged to meet the DeMillos and the McKeon/Williams in Firenze for the day so we got to the Stazione early to take this phone booth picture before everyone arrived for the group photos which Caroline also took Our group linked up in teams with Sarah and Cara Jane and Lucy Suzanne and Michael Rich and Ronnie Benjamin sitting on my shoes ( over the sight of the effects of fine Italian pasta ) and the rest of me and Lucy with the Duomo in the background. We made a short stop at the Duomo to see the ceiling which would later inspire us to walk above it. But first there was the issue of lunch.

Sarah and Benjamin had the spaghetti pomodoro and ravioli spinaci respectively. I had the pasta with porcini mushrooms The others had varying portions of the steak Florentine.

After lunch, we went to the market place to see the pig and rub his nose Next, we went to this hat store where Rich bought this hat which Sarah considers very fine. Cara bought a bandage at the Farmacia. This fit her elbow well and made the DeMillo family happy. Not to be outdone, Suzanne and Sarah bought this purse with the helpful guidance of Cara.

Next, it was time to get our exercise. We found this line and waited in it while noticing how high the bell tower is. Then, it was time to go in and walk up to the first level from which the ceiling seemed much closer and then to the top from which the bell tower didn't seem so high. Suzanne was happy to be at the top as were Benjamin and Sarah We found our village (Villamagna) in the background as we scanned the Tuscan hills before it was time to start the trip back down

Once down, Sarah had to inspect the doors of the baptistery to see if they looked like the doors to heaven. Suzanne, Rich and Ronnie read that the real doors were elsewhere which explained why they didn't impress Sarah. But the duomo remained exciting to us as we celebrated over gelato and granita limone

On our way out of town, we made our way to the stazione once more where Sarah and Benjamin contemplated taking the train to Paris and we took the obligatory phone booth pictures including this phone booth picture where Sarah was actually talking to another person.