We're not in Kansas anymore Auntie Em.

Yup, definitely not in Kansas, or New Jersey for that matter.  We started the day at the Academia, seeing Michelangelo's David.  Every Museum we go into has signs posted saying, "No Photograph's".  Jim the Lawyer say's those don't mean him and so he takes pictures in every Museum and gets yelled at or asked to leave a gallery or two.  Today he was told the same but as you can see below I am taking a picture of him taking a picture of an Andy Warhol of a Leonardo da Vinci.

Jim the Lawyer breaking the law, Er, finding a loophole!

 We had a nice time and everyone was awed by the David, of course.  Strangely there were these modern paintings and sculpture mixed in with great masters work.  The guards were too busy chattering to notice us snapping shots.  Where the David was they were ultra vigilant, Jim tried to take a picture of an artist sketching the David and got yelled at even for that.

A Picasso

Here is Jim sitting in an antique chair at the Academia, he called it his "Emperor Nero Moment"!

no longer satisfied with having a resemblance to Constantine, Jim switches sides and does Nero.

 Back on the street Mom wanted her picture taken in this Pinocchio Store.  HMMMM,  she was thinking about how best to lie to Dad about her expenses and purchases.

Mom's nose grows as she thinks about telling Dad, "I didn't spend much at all".

 Here is a shot of a restaurant kitchen preparing a pumpkin for some delicious concoction.

Local kitchen preparing a gourd.

The afternoon was dedicated to a Major League Sport here in Florence, No not soccer, SHOPPING.  To be more accurate it was mostly browsing but it was heavy duty browsing.  We did the Via Dei Tornabuoni (the Rodeo Drive of Florence), lots of purse, leather, shoe stores, paper stores, craft & art shops and a few parts of the Trans-Arno Santo Spirito neighborhood (across the river).  We also visited the leather school and watched fine leather good being made.

I can prove we were not in Kansas or New Jersey anymore, here are the ruby slippers!  For my fierce shoe fiends out there (yeah, I know you call yourselves by a more colorful name but this is high fashion Florence) here are some of the many goods.

The Ruby Slippers

 It is October and a girl can get chilly, here is a wrap the girls fell in love with at a little shop on the Borgo Ognissanti.  I was ordered to photograph it in case they feel compelled to return to purchase it.  It comes in many, many colors though they all preferred the red the French proprietor showed them.  She is looking for a North American Distributor and asked if we were interested.  Gina tried it on, it can be worn in about 4 or 5 configurations, making it a good buy at only $265 USD (if you pay cash).

High Fashion

 Gina found another restaurant named for her, this time in Florence's Santo Spritio District.

Gina welcomes us to her place, too bad we couldn't get a discount.

 WHAT A PITTI we didn't find something to buy.  The girls in front of the Pitti Palace, former home to the Medici Family and now a museum.  Given the fact Gina had a Medici moment and fell in love with a 1,900 Euro purse across the street from the Pitti,  Rosemary asked if we could spend a night in her ponderosa across the street at the Pitti.  We may just have a pity party.  Ya know it really is amazing the amount of things you can create from dead animals that women will pay high prices for!  Did I mention Gina went into a Fur store and they locked her in???  Oh yeah baby!

"What a Pitti we didn't get any leather today"

 So, Mom did find a few things to pick up along the way.  There was a very nice woman sewing and making very creative things.  This pumpkin is quite large and is supposed to fit in her suitcase.  The other things are from a Florentine paper shop that hand prints and binds all manner of things. Florentine Paper is really an affordable luxury.

Don't tell Dad these are coming to Jackson!