On Tuesdays and Thursdays I only have class until 10:45, so today I did some exploring of downtown Florence with my friend Kristen.

We went into the Baptistry to look at the mosaics for a class, and they are amazing.  The Baptistry is the building next to the duomo where babies were baptised and therefore began their lives as part of the society.  My neck hurt from looking up, the mosaics are so beautiful.  And so gold.  The mosaics tell the story of Genesis, the life and death and resurection of Christ, the story of John the Baptist, and the Last Judgement.

Then we walked along to some other piazze and to Santa Croce.  Needing some direction in life, we set out to find a particularly good gelateria that Kristen had heard of.  After an hour of walking and three sets of conflicting directions we finally found the shop, and that gelato was worth the trek.  I also got to find my way around a new part of Firenze.  Busy days of traveling are fun, but there's something to be said for simply walking around and taking in this amazing city.

Here is a link to all of my Florence '11 pictures - https://picasaweb.google.com/104859887244946738313/Florence11?authuser=0&...