Today our stop was at Livorno, Italy. The ship does not actually stop here for Livorno itself, but rather for the surrounding areas. We had chosen to spend our day in Florence with an entry into the Leonardo Da Vinci Museum. The ride from the ship to Florence took about an hour and a half. We had a stop at a pit stop on the side of the road (which had a shop and a gas station) at about the half way point to stop for food. We then rode the rest of the way to Florence. The buses are not allowed in the old town so after dropping us off we had to walk about 3/4 of a mile to the cafe where we had lunch (either a mozzarella and tomato sandwich or ham and cheese).
After lunch we walked to the Leonardo Da Vinci Museum. The museum has taken several of Leonardo's drawings and built them. They let you play with most of the exhibits so you can really see how they work. One of the neatest items was the odometer that he devised. Basically, every revolution of a wheel causes another wheel to rotate by a single notch. Every complete revolution of the secondary wheel would drop a stone into a container marking the distance that the vehicle has traveled. Both Christie and I wished that this museum had been larger. Hopefully they will be able to expand to include more of his work.
After the museum we were able to spend some time shopping in Florence and seeing some of the other historical sites. We did not actually have enough time to go in and visit other museums (such as the Uffizi or the Academy of Arts Museum). We did have time to see the 2 outdoor replicas of the David statue. We also saw some more of the traditional Florence sights such as Ponta Vechhio which is the only original bridge to survive World War II. It is lined with gold shops. We also saw the Cathedral and Baptismal, the Old Palace, the outside of the Uffizi and Academy of Arts, and as many other sights as we could. There are just way too many things to see in Florence in a single day. After the ride back to the ship and dinner, we had the unfortunate experience of having to pack our bags to fly home the next day.
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Florence
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Leonardo Da Vinci Museum
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