Florence, Day 6 (finale)

This was my first view of David as I turned the corner toward the rotunda where he stands at the Accademia Museum. It's been a lifelong dream to see him in real life. We pre-booked our "skip the line" tickets for first thing in the morning. Another great decision, as the rotunda slowly got more crowded as time went on.

Honestly, he's perfect. Zero flaws. Bravo, Michelangelo!

As you can see, the rotunda wasn't very crowded. I had envisioned a nightmarish situation where a tightly packed crowd moves glacially around David in an assembly line, hoping to snap at least one decent photo. But we had plenty of time to get the photos and

the time we wanted.

I tried to do the contrapposto stance in this one, but nobody does it quite like David.

We even got a chance to sit down on a bench in the rotunda behind David.

At some point we had to give our farewells. Such a moving experience!

We ate lunch in the heart of the city beside the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore (the Duomo). For the life of me, I can't find my other pictures of the Duomo. We took several. I'll check my sources and get back to you.

Next we went to the Uffizi Gallery and saw other glorious works such as

Boticelli's The Birth of Venus.

And Spring, of the same artist. These rooms were a bit crowded at this point.

The Uffizi Gallery had so much to offer, such as The Sleeping Hermaphroditus

from the 2nd Century AD.

And this Medusa by Caravaggio.

As it was our last day, we took a lot of pictures and did some shopping.

We ate a lovely Florentine dinner and enjoyed the last bit of Italy that we could.

I wanted to capture the little chapel across from our hotel. Our last night there, we happened upon a small performance that touched me deeply.

We woke up super early (keeping with the theme) for our flights home.

I love you, Italy! Until next time.