Under the Tuscan Sun

Written By Roscoe
This morning we awoke bright and early at 11am. After our usual bowl of cafe latte, we decided to head out for another adventure. This time we let Opus pick the spot and he chose Florence. He went on and on about Florence being the birth of the Renaissance, art treasures, blah blah blah.....

So we jumped into the magic van and flew off for another day filled with fun and laughter. On the way, Momo suggested that we stop in Pisa since it is so close to Florence. We were all nervous about returning to the "scene of the crime", but we also love the Field of Miracles and thought that a sunbath on its lush, green grass was a must.

Upon our arrival we notice right away that the Tower (which had been mysteriously broken during Saint Patrick's Day) had been repaired and was reopened to the public. Just as Opus went in for a landing, we spotted a sign that hadn't been there on our previous trip. It read "NO PETS ALLOWED". Since it was forbidding house pets AND since it had been written in English, we could only assume that the local police had some information about the scoundrels who had broken the Tower. Needless to say we high tailed it out of Pisa in a hurry.

(photo by Karl and edited by us)

It was just about lunch time when we arrived in Florence. The city was alive with tourists and locals all rushing about their business. Opus sat the van down just outside of the historical center and we can began our tour of the city on foot, er paw.


Opus made a beeline to the museum (boring), but we went because he said it was important to learn about art. The first museum we went was the Uffizi and what a HUGE museum THAT was! We were in there for HOURS before we finally made it to the exit door. As we left the Uffizi, we ran into street vendors who were selling all kinds of things. A huge bunch of colorful balloons caught Momo's eye and so we bought a bunch just for her!

Next on Opus's culture list was the Academia where he said we were going to visit the David. I didn't know who David was, but I figure he was just an old friend of Opus's. Boy was I wrong! Right there in the middle of the museum was this huge, marble statue of a naked dude!

(photo by Sassy)

Momo and Opus said that it was a true form of art, but seeing a naked human just made me giggle. Opus gave me the evil eye, which only made me giggle more. If that Michelangelo guy was so good at carving, why didn't he make a pair of shorts for poor, cold David?

After all of our adventures in art, we thought it was time to settle in at an outdoor cafe.


There we spent the rest of the afternoon lapping up warm milk and watching the tourists in the square.


As the sun began to set across the land of Tuscany, we piled back into the magic van, balloons and all, and headed for home.

Tomorrow is another day......