July 11, 2013: Tower, Street Dancing, JALC

Today started off with a walk up to the tower of the Palazzo Vecchio. It's a little over 200 steep steps, but the view is so worth the wait. It offers a 360 panoramic view of Florence and the surrounding hills. We were able to see and hear the bells ringing across town and even took a short video of the bells in the tower of the Duomo. There was a group of about 20 people that started dancing in the street while playing drums, tambourines, and guitars. It was very cool to see it from atop the tower, and I got a great video of the performance.

After that, we just strolled around. We wanted to get to Accademia to see David, but the line was impossible. I bought an Amici degli Uffizi card, which will help me skip the line a little bit, and we're working on getting Mike a Firenze card, which will do the same for him. My card is a multi-use entrance card for all the museums and can be used from now until December, but Mike's will only be able to be used once per museum in 72 hours. Our plan is to finish all of the museums tomorrow, after I get back from Perugia. 

That's right, I'm going on an adventure to Perugia! Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra are performing at Umbria Jazz tonight. Mike isn't too interested in going, so at the last minute, my cousin Dawn is going to pick me up from the train and drive over to the festival. The weather is looking a little scary with more thunder, so hopefully the concert won't be canceled tonight. Either way, it'll be an adventure. I am friends with Carlos Henriquez (bassist) and Ali Jackson (drummer), so Carlos comped us the tickets. It will be fun to hang with them in Europe, and it's a once in a while chance to get to hear them play out here. I'll be back online tonight to tell you how the night goes!

Bells at the Duomo- click for video!

Until then, buona serata.