Florence to Montepulciano

We woke this morning and decided that before we left for our next destination we had to visit a couple of places we missed yesterday. We started out by getting ourselves a little lost on or way to the Duomo. We walked way out of our way, but eventually made it to where we meant to be. The church didn't open for a little while so we decided to take the opportunity, while waiting, to climb the tower. It consists of 414 steps and some of them were pretty steep. It was quite the workout, but again very worth the climb. You get to stop on 3 different levels to take in the view and snap a few pictures. It was so beautiful to see the whole city from above. It was also fun to notice that all the buildings are close to the same color and all with the same color roof.

We made our way down and headed into the church. It was pretty beautiful inside, but not quite as outstandingly huge as the Duomo in Milan. Next to the Duomo is the Duomo Museum. This Museum holds pieces that were taken from the church building and brought to the museum to protect them. There was some really interesting pieces. I am glad that we stopped to look there.

This is one of Michelangelo's 3 Pietas. This one he carved for his own tomb. But part of the marble had a flaw and broke. He stopped making it because he got mad. So someone else finished it. The third figure in the statue is Nicodemus, but Michelangelo substituted his own likeness.

After that museum, we headed to the Medici chapel. How would it be to have your own family chapel?? This place holds the tombs of the Medici family as well as some very interesting items. We saw a glass cabinet full of small pieces of saints. When I say small pieces, what I mean is jars with things like a jaw, or a finger, or bones from various parts of the body, or other pieces of the saints. It was a little weird to see that they had decided to keep a little something from each of them on display.  As we were leaving the museum, we came across a glass case that contained 3 items that took me by surprise. Sitting behind the glass was a couple of original pieces of the cross that Jesus Christ was hung on, a thorn from the crown that he wore and a couple of pieces of the stone that were taken from the whip that he was hit with.

Random I know! Mike wanted to make sure that I noticed how cool these chairs are, because we have some just like it in our house!

There were displays all over the chapel of body parts of saints. It was a little weird. Yes that is a finger you can see.

This is the thorn

This is the wood from the cross

As a Christian I believe in Christ. I believe that he died for me. I don't need physical proof to know that it happened. I rely on my Faith. Today, for a moment, I was speechless. I was humbled beyond belief. I have always known what was done for me, but to see with my own eyes, a little piece of the cross, and a single thorn from the crown placed on his head, and a stone from the whip, made it REAL. My Heavenly Father loved me enough to send his son Jesus Christ to suffer and die for me, so that I could return to live with him one day. I am so grateful to know that he loves me and what a fabulous experience it was to be able to see those amazing pieces of history.

After we had seen everything we had planned to see in Florence we jumped in the Panda and headed out to Pisa. It only took us an hour to get there and it also did not disappoint.
We did the obligatory poses with the tower and looked at the market and then jumped back in the car to head to our final destination for the day.

This drive was a little longer, but it was so beautiful. We drove through the Tuscan mountains and I was stunned and the beauty around us, I would love to live here!
We zig zagged our way down the Italian coast and then cut across and headed through Volterra, (an amazing town set on the top of a hill, surrounded by a castle wall.) The views from here were stunning. We kept going and passed through Siena on the way to our final destination, a small town named Montepulciano. We arrived after dark, and our room for the night was in the next town 6kms away. So we didn't stop. But there will be more about that town tomorrow......