we got into florence early in the morning. attempted to check into the hostel but they had overbooked and the place they wanted to put us was really sketchy and the man we had to deal wiht was a bit strange so we just checked into a hotel which is more expensive but worth it. nice room and great extremely central location. we get breakfast provided. we looked around in Plalatzio Vecchio which has a replica of the david statue and somewhat faded frescos inside. you have to go through security to get it. we also looked at Or St. Michael which has statutes around the outside. we met up with sara (elizabeths friend from smith). we went to amazing place for lunch. they sit there eating and chatting and watching you until they open. we all shared prochutto, ribbolito soup, a bean soup, ravioli and penne in a meat sauce. delicious. We went to three churches. one was called santa croche. it had michaelangelos, machiavellis, galileos, dantes, da vinci, and others graves. it was gorgeous inside. amazing stained glass, typical renaissance paintings, and expressive statues. the duormo is another gorgeous church with red and greed inlaid stone on it. it has a baptistry with golden doors by ghiberti. tons of people in front. huge tower. we went to saras host families house. they had a very barky dog named perla. nice house. many levels. lots of neat artwork on the walls. we went to a nice place with a great atmosphere (family style). i had spaghetti. another smithie and is abroad came to eat with us. we went for gelato afterwards. i had tiramisu and mexican chocolate. yummy. we took the bus back to the hotel and went to bed.