We had arrived in Florence, AL, the previous evening for a weekend event, and had spent the night in a hotel room beside the highway. We woke up early (considering the local time) because of the difference in longitude between the place we were visiting and our home (which we had departed the previous morning). We had traveled in a south westerly direction the previous day. I raised the shades covering the window pane just to take a look outside. This is what I saw. 
The sky was an optimal mix of purple and orange and shades in-between, with the clouds at different locations in the sky passing through different frequencies of the color spectrum. I quickly pulled up a pair of pants, grabbed my camera, and dashed out of the front door of the hotel to get another view that would hopefully not be blocked by something in front of me. By the time I got to a clear location, the moment was gone. This was what I saw.
Consider the different elements that came together for me to have this experience. First of all, I had to open up the shades of the window at the proper moment in time when the sun was at the position that it was in relative to that location on the planet. Secondly, the window to the room that we were staying in had to be facing east so that I would indeed see the event. (Being on the third floor of the hotel also helped.) Thirdly, the cloud formation had to be right for me to get a glimpse of all those colors. I would probably have not enjoyed this experience if any one of the three elements had been out of place.
Some may be tempted to invoke divine intervention as the cause for the circumstances of this experience. But if this had indeed been a set up, I would consider it a partial screw-up – at the moment when the sunrise was at its best, I could only view it through the branches of a tree, and by the time I got to a location where I could get a better view, that moment was over. But perhaps the screw-up was also purposeful, eh?! We can go on and on…
Best to take it as it comes and try to be prepared for the unexpected experiences, both good and bad.
There were a couple of musicians there to entertain us, a guitar player and a singer. There were more bottles of different kinds of wine awaiting us at our dining table.
The dinner started out with a wonderful spread of vegetables laid out on a central table for all to share.
It is quite the sight, and a nice surprise. We had been missing out on the usual vegetable intake that we were used to at home.
The merriment continued through the items that we were served before the main course, and indeed all of this food was polished off.
The musicians would take breaks from their efforts every once in a while and then come back to sing some more songs for us. At some point one of our fellow travelers was invited up to sing an Italian song with the musicians. And then the folks at our table convinced me in my inebriated state to join the guitar player to sing a song 
It was all quite tasty. And the wine kept flowing. After dinner Alessandro joined in some of the singing and noted that it was time for some dancing.
Aldo was also invited to join the musicians. He watched the rest of us with a somewhat bemused look on his face.
Folks boogied while the musicians did their thing.
Alessandro then introduced a newlywed couple who were a part of our group and brought out a cake for them. A song was sung for them.
When informed that there were other couples who were celebrating their anniversaries during the trip, he invited them all up. The musicians sang a song to all of them,
and they then all together blew out the candle on the cake.
Finally it was time for dessert and a shot of 
as Aldo drove the winding roads carefully, on his mission to deliver us safely back to our hotel. But he was also part of the fun. At some point he had us going around in circles in a 
We were taken on a bus from our hotel to the 
The lines to enter the gallery were long but things were moving since it was still early in the morning.
The statue of David is indeed stunning in its setting, and it gets your attention from many different locations in the gallery.
Michelangelo was also a anatomist. He understood the muscle and bone structure of a human being very well and was a master at recreating this in his work.
The other interesting room was the collection of sculptures made by students at the Academy in the past as a part of their studies. These were not necessarily meant for public viewing.
The holes in the sculptures were meant to be peg-points so that anybody making a copy could get the correct proportions for the piece they were sculpting.
The church is huge. In fact it is so big and is in such a location that I found it impossible to capture the entire building in a single picture.
The 
also includes the 
The architecture of this huge church is amazing. The 
After the visit to the cathedral we walked the narrow streets 
to the 
Two landmarks of Florence that are around this plaza are the 
This was the end of the morning tour.
and got an opportunity to take pictures of the bridge itself and the buildings on the river bank.
Frorence is known for its leather work. Alessandro had set up a tour of a leather shop for us. We learned how to identify real leather!
We hung out in the plaza for a short while.
After this stop, the others in our group decided to take a taxi back to the hotel while the two of us decided to take a walk along the Arno to our hotel. The sun was beginning to set. 
We got to our hotel room without any issues. It was time to relax for a short while. There was more fun being planned for that evening as a part of the tour, a subject for 
We passed the bus stand for commuter buses from the mainland.
We caught the 
Soon we were headed off the island over the bridge paralleling the bridge for the railway line. The 
On the mainland we followed the railway tracks for a short while.
We passed a stationary 
Then we were in the countryside and on the highway passing 
After a few hours, including a couple of “il bagno” stops along the way,
we entered a stretch of highway cutting through the 
There were several impressive tunnels that 
We had lunch at the restaurant after an tour of the farm led by a rather enthusiastic lady. The last picture in this set is of an olive tree.
There were other tour groups at lunch, which was accompanied by a few different bottles of wine produced at the estate.
The rain had started to come down heavily by the time we reached Pisa for our next stop. At the bus stop in 
It was obvious from initial observations that the tower was really leaning (apparently about 4° at this time),
but I got to thinking that, without a context, one could even make an upright tower look like it was leaning, depending on how one took a picture of the structure, or one could even take the picture of a leaning tower from a direction from which it might look upright. Here it is being pushed upright with some effort.
We also spent some time in the cathedral.
The area at the entrance to the piazza was filled with little shops selling knick-knacks and food and drink.
We visited some of the stores and had drinks to warm us up before heading back to the trolley that was to take us to the bus that was waiting at the bus stand.
Splattered Brains 