Florence, Italy--You'll never believe what started here--today!

Florence was definitely on the list of places to visit during our trip to Europe. Mark and Denisa have fond memories of the day they spent here over twenty years ago. We remembered the Duomo (church), and we were excited to learn that Alexia had a special event planned. But you'll never believe what started here--today! Make your guess of what it might be, and keep reading to find the answer.

We were on a schedule, and we had to be out of our apartment at 7:00 this morning to catch a train to Florence. It's tough to get eight people up and dressed that early, but we did it. So imagine how sad we were to find that our metro station was closed, and we all had to run to the nearest bus station. Fourteen bus stops and one bus change later, and we ran into the Rome train station with just a few minutes to spare. We could finally relax on the high-speed train to Firenze (the Italian name for Florence). It was a 1.5-hour ride through the Italian country-side, including this field of bright yellow flowers. We were in first class, and we had bottled water, and a box breakfast that included a hard roll, nutella cookies, and crinkly shortbreads that we called "caterpillars."

Just a block after we got off the train in Florence, we found ourselves in a beautiful market with picture-perfect produce.

Another booth had hand-made pasta. Florence is all about the food!

We plan to learn how to make some of that food! We got up early to make it to this cooking class.

We got our aprons and our 00 flour, and were instructed to construct a ring of flour. That's where our teacher poured the slurry of yeast and liquid.

After working the ingredients together, we kneaded our individual pizza dough for five minutes. Then while our dough rested, we made the mixture for chocolate gelato. Sorry that we didn't take pictures of the gelato, but we ate it before it melted. It was mixed together by Katrina and Camden and two other girls that were cousins from the United States. Their grandfather brought the two girls to Italy, and he explained that he was a lawyer from Oklahoma City. It's a small world!

We used seminole flour to help shape the dough as we pressed and stretched it like our Italian teacher instructed us. While talking to her, we found out that our chef had lived in Italy for 15 years, but she's from Macon, Georgia. It truly is a small world.

The next step was adding toppings. We were allowed to use only three small spoons of sauce--because Americans usually ruin their pizza by adding too much sauce.

Our pizzas were scraped from the marble counter onto a long-handled pizza peel, and went into a 900 degree oven. It doesn't take long to bake at that temperature.

We thought that some of the pizzas were burnt, but Mark and Denisa's were perfectly baked! We were good pizza chefs if we had to say so ourselves!

Our chef teacher gave us a list of her favorite gelato places in Florence. Like good students that want to follow their teacher's advice, we tried to sample at all of them.

She told us to watch out for shops that have the gelato heaped into tall piles. That height comes from incorporating air into the gelato. You don't want to pay for air.

In between eating too much gelato, we did some Florence sight-seeing. Visiting the gold doors of the baptistery is a must-see.

The detail of these doors was stunning.

Florence was crowded, so we got in the long line that looped around the corner of the huge Duomo.

We made it to the front of the line and got to light a candle inside. The churches in Italy require that shoulders are covered, so Alexia couldn't go inside in her tank top until Camden let her borrow his t-shirt later.

Our favorite part of this famous church was the dome, and the fact that we could visit it for free.

Another must-see is the Accademia Museum, where Michelangelo's famous statue of David is climate controlled and protected. Lines were long and the price was high to visit this famous museum. So the next best thing was to see the replica of the David statue that stands in the open plaza several blocks from the Duomo.

After finding the statue, we went in search of the wine windows around the city. At a time when plagues were spread easily, sellers learned that doing business through these little windows kept them separated and healthy.

It was while walking through the city that we stumbled upon banners welcoming us to a biking fan zone. What's this about?

That's when we realized that the famous Tour de France bicycle race started from this very piazza this morning! They started at the blue flag on the left side of the map, and the bikers will pedal around 2,200 miles over the next 21 days to the finish line on the right side of the map. Fans and bike riders traveled from around the world to be in Florence today. Serendipity brought us here on the same day! 

The fan zone was filled with fun games to play, and the eight of us tried them all.

Players had to pedal in such a way to keep their average speed consistent even though they were going up and down inclines.

Six of our eight players won a prize at the big wheel. We cleaned them out of Tour de France cow bells.

We also got to see the bike trick show. This guy could balance on one wheel, flip his bike, and do crazy bike gymnastics. But he needed some volunteers to form a human line to jump over. You must be crazy to agree to lay on the ground while a bike attempts to jump over you. The guy in the blue shirt on the ground is a little crazy.

But he was still smiling after the successful bike jump. No tourists were harmed in the filming of this trick.

Once we left the fan zone, we saw the signs on the street that warned drivers that their car would be towed if they parked here. They needed all the lanes clear for the Tour de France bikers today.

What a fun thing to get to experience today!

Another must-see stop in Florence is the Ponte Vecchio Bridge. As we walked toward the bridge, we noticed the arches along the Arno river made for an interesting picture.

We walked over this famous medieval stone bridge, and got more pictures of the Arno River that winds its way through Florence. The Ponte Vecchio is the only bridge in Florence that was spared from the bombing destruction of World War II

It sure is fun traveling with a family members that don't mind being in our pictures!

Speaking of pictures, this family can't resist a photo booth opportunity. From the outside we could see that fitting six people into one booth can be a challenge.

This is what it looked like inside.

It was hot in Florence today, and we were tired by the time we walked back to the train station for the hour-and-a-half ride back to Rome. The sun was low in the sky as we passed those yellow fields of flowers once again. We had planned to learn about making Italian pizza and gelato, and we had planned to see most of the highlights of Florence's architecture today. But we would have never believed that we would find the starting point of the Tour de France on race day in Florence today!

Exploring Ancient and Modern Rome

After our lovely day touring the Amalfi coast, we boarded a high-speed train for our next stop--Rome. We had reserved seats in a first- class train car, as we watched the Italian hills and valleys roll past at high speed. These trains zip down the tracks at 180 miles per hour, making fast work of the trip across Italy. Each train has first- and second-class cars, and they all get to their destination at the same time. But we found out that the seats in first class are more comfortable, less crowded, and we each got a snack pack and a bottle of water. Nice!

Once we arrived at the very modern Rome train station, we transferred to the Rome metro system. We realized how far below ground we were when we got on one of the longest escalators we have ever experienced. We were exploring modern Rome! As we traveled through these busy stations, Denisa was continually counting to be sure we hadn't left anyone or anything behind. She kept counting 8 people, 8 carry-on bags, and then 8 back-packs.

We stayed in Rome for three nights at an airbnb not far from the Vatican. Our first morning in Rome included a personalized tour of the city, so we planned which metro stations we would use to get to the start of our tour. We were prepared to navigate the Rome metro system. But we found out the next morning that the metro workers were on strike, and we had to start scrambling. This was strike two for the workers in Europe putting an unexpected change into our plans. It was supposed to be a 25-minute metro ride, and suddenly we were studying bus routes. We found a bus stop, jumped on a bus going the right direction, and tried to figure out the connections for the next bus. Welcome to modern Rome! Someone thought it was funny that the only available option was a handicapped seat, so the gray-haired person in our group had a seat. They took Denisa's picture to document it. While the bus was a slower trip, we finally made it to our destination. 

Our tour of ancient Rome was aboard two tuk-tuks.

We were blessed that we had great weather for this open-air ride.

Our vehicles were more narrow than the average car, so our drivers zipped in and out of traffic to give us great views of the best sites of ancient Rome.

We tuk-tuked right past the Roman Coliseum.

The marble was robbed from the outside of the coliseum for a later building project. But the remaining white stone walls were still lovely against the blue skies.

We stopped in at the Circus Maximus, where the remains of the oval race track were backed by the remains of the homes of ancient Rome's rich and famous.

Rome has 2,500 water fountains, providing clean drinking water to locals and visitors. Our guides gave us a lesson on the proper way to drink from these fountains. Instead of drinking from the long downward-facing spout, a finger should be used to plug that hole. That forces the water into a opening on the top of the spout, at a better drinking height.

Other fountains were more ornamental. But it would feel a little weird to drink the water being spit out of the mouth of an angry-looking old man.

We stopped for a walk through the bitter orange groves. We have left the lemon orchards, only to find that the oranges of Rome are not good to eat.

We took a group picture with several of Rome's most famous domes in the background. Rome has a rule that no building in the central area can be taller than St. Peter's Basilica. So the basilica's dome can always be spotted when looking across this section of ancient Rome.

We stopped in to see the Basilica di Santa Sabina, where the Pope leads the Ash Wednesday service each year. It's the oldest church in Rome, built in 422 AD.

Our tuk-tuks zipped by the Victor Emanuel II Monument and the tomb of the unknown soldier. Even though young people that have only typed on a computer key board won't understand, the Roman citizens think this is an ugly building and have nicknamed it "the typewriter."

We zipped by several of the obelisks that help locals find their way through these narrow lanes. These tall spires can be seen above the buildings to aid in navigating.

One stop that every Roman tourist must make is at the Trevi Fountain. For this photo we managed to crop out the hundreds of people that were also trying to crop us out.

It takes a little patience, but we finally wormed our way to the front row to prove that we were actually at the Trevi Fountain. Legend has it that tossing a coin over your left shoulder into the fountain will insure a return trip to Rome. But based on the heat and the crowds, we don't know that we need another trip to Rome. We have so many other places to see for the first time.

Our driver told us that the best option for a bathroom break was to buy a pastry at the local bakery and then it was permissible to use their facilities. It doesn't take much persuasion to get us to eat a pastry, and this was a good cause. While we waited on the rest of our group, we had to take a picture of the sidewalk cafe that had individual lacy umbrellas shading each table.

Our tuk-tuk ride through the crowded streets of Rome was exciting. We saw our rear view mirrors almost touch more than one vehicle this day.

Mark and Denisa were in Rome over twenty years ago. On that trip we spent a long and tiring day walking to all the must-see places in this big city. 

It almost felt like we were cheating by being whisked around so quickly on our private tour this time. Our vehicles were nimble, and our guide pointed out famous sights . . . 

and streets.

People brave enough to drive a car in this traffic must also be brave enough to park creatively. All the cars on that street were half-way on the sidewalk.

We paused in front of the Castel Sant'Angelo. This round building was once a fort in ancient Rome, but is now a museum in modern Rome.

Then our drivers headed toward Vatican City. We knew we were getting close when we got our first close look of the dome of St. Peter's Basilica.

We had a tasty lunch at the Vatican Cafe across the street. After days of pasta, that Italian burger with pesto and barrato cheese and tomato tasted really good. Dining with this group is complicated by the fact that Cole has a severe fish allergy. So at every restaurant, Alexia has the information printed in the appropriate language asking if they can insure there is no cross-contamination with fish items on the menu. The manager at the Vatican Cafe had the same food allergy, and he assured Cole, "I will not kill you today!" That is certainly reassuring, and we could tell they meant it when they cleaned his tableware with alcohol!

After lunch we walked across the street to the entrance of Vatican City. The lines to get in are usually several hours long during the summer. So we were glad that we could skip this long line because our tickets had been purchased through a private guide.

No loud talking is allowed in the Vatican, so we each had ear pieces and amplifiers to hear the whispers of our guide.

We followed her through the Vatican Museum. She pointed out just a few of the 110,000 statues that are owned by the Vatican. This is "Laocoon and his sons," believed to be carved in 40 BC.

Many of these priceless pieces of work are thousands of years old.

We sauntered through room after room of amazing art until we were on statue overload.

We weren't alone on this tour, as we were almost shoulder-to-shoulder with other tour groups in some rooms.

While this looks like a statue, it's actually a flat painting with incredible shading to make it look 3-D.

We looked up and saw a whole ceiling full of painted masterpieces that continued down the long corridor of the museum. While this is a beautiful ceiling, it's not the Sistine Chapel that everyone comes to see.

This was another famous painting, "The School of Athens," and we paused to hear a description of the real people that were painted into this canvas. Painted by Raphael, he put his artist friends in the crowd. Our guide pointed out Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael himself in this painting that covers an entire wall.

While Raphael was painting school pictures, Michelangelo was lying on his back working on his masterpiece on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. After more than an hour of making our way through the museum, it was finally our turn to step inside this hallowed ground. No talking is allowed, and no pictures. So Denisa was certainly surprised to find this sneaky blurry picture on Mark's phone the next day.

By the time we emerged into the sunlight, our minds couldn't even comprehend what all we had seen today. While we would have normally been wow-ed by the beauty of the outside of St. Peter's Basilica, we were just looking for a place to sit down and rest our legs.

Most of the steps were corded off, and the plaza was covered with lines of chairs. But we found an open step just outside the cathedral and gave our tired legs a much-needed rest. 

We weren't there long before a man with a suit and a badge told us we couldn't sit down. So we were back on our feet and stepped inside the Basilica.

Its gold domes and immense size were amazing--even to eight people that had been amazed by the best of Ancient Roman art and architecture all day.

We think that the Vatican and the Basilica are crowded every day of the summer. But we managed to be here on an especially busy day. Tomorrow is St. Peter's Day, and no tours will be allowed. So they had to jam two days of tourists into one day. Chairs were set up inside and outside for the special services that will be held tomorrow for the festival.

The statue of St. Peter is all dressed up in special finery for St. Peter's Day.

The Vatican is a special place to buy a cross for our souvenir collection. But our legs weren't interested in standing in the very long lines at the gift shop. So we took the necessary picture in front of the plaza (covered by chairs) instead.

On our way out, we got to see the Swiss guards, guarding the gates to Vatican City.

We headed back to our apartment to rest our weary minds and bodies. Then we all were ready to experience a little of modern Rome. It was a 15-minute walk to Aura Shopping Mall. The two-story indoor mall had a metal slipper slide that wound its way down from the second floor.

You can be sure that our group had to try out that modern slipper slide.

We shopped in the modern stores filled with the latest Italian fashions. In the very modern grocery store in the basement of the mall, we bought food to make dinner. We had a very full day, exploring both ancient and modern Rome!