Florence, DAY 1
			Today we woke up early for our departure from Rome to the city of Florence, roughly four hours away by private bus.  When we woke up, Amy was feeling pretty miserable, and unfortunately when we arrived in Florence, she had to stay behind at the hotel and miss the tour.  That should have been an omen to us, but no one really made the connection that she had been with us the night before in Rome when the eight of us got pizza...  After we unloaded our bags in the Hotel Mediterrano, located on the Arno river in Florence, we began a five hour walking tour of the town.  The city of Firenze, established in 59 BC, means "the flowered one" and was the cultural center of the Renaissance.  Our tour began as we walked along the Arno river and Dr. Edwards told us of the huge flood that devastated the town in 1966.  Dr. Edwards was only a boy then, and he was there to see the massive wall of water as it came crashing into the city, flooding the streets up to the second floor of most buildings.  Unfortunately, many great masterpieces and important documents were destroyed by the water, which had a layer of oil on the surface.  The entire town pitched in at the time, and citizens from all over the city hung the important papers out to dry on clotheslines.  As we continued along the river, Dr. Edwards pointed out that every bridge in the city is modern save one, the famous Ponte Vecchio built in 1345 AD.  Now packed with the shops of goldsmiths, the historic covered bridge was the only one in the city not destroyed by the Nazis in WWII.  Apparently, they believed that the bridge was so old that it would crumble on its own under the weight of American tanks and troops, but this logic turned out to be incorrect and the bridge still stands to this day.
			Our first stop in the city was the Church of the Holy Cross, a large gothic cathedral which has a massive statue of Dante standing outside the entrance.  Dante's "Divine Comedy" is the work he is most famous for, and involves a fictitious trip through Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory.  The large statue depicts the man in an almost menacing form, and attests to the serious and sometimes dark nature of the literary genius.  Inside the church are the tombs of many of the great masters of their respective fields, including Michelangelo (the greatest sculptor in history), Dante, Machiavelli (the politician famous for "The Prince"), Galileo the astronomer and scientist, and Fermi, the physicist famous for his work with atomic energy.  The architecture inside immediately screams, "Gothic!" and bears the trademark pointed arches famous for that period of history.  Around the room are the tombs, which are decorated with fantastic marble sculptures which depict women weeping over the loss of each master.  After visiting the famous leather school which has been housed in the cathedral for many years, we made our way to the exit.  Before we could get out the door, Stephanie immediately became sick and despite the fact that she too ate dinner with us the previous night, we still failed to make the connection...
				From the Church of the Holy Cross, we walked to the Piazza della Signoria, a large square which was completed in 1504 AD.  It is there that the famous statue of David originally stood for 350 years, until it was moved to its current location in the Accademia museum.  A replica statue now stands in its place, and no doubt thousands of uninformed tourists every year mistake the exact copy for the real thing, which is actually across the city.  Another famous sculpture in the complex is the "Rape of the Sabines", which bears the likeness of three figures intertwined and carved out one massive piece of marble.  As we broke for lunch, Jim was the next one to fall ill, and by this time light bulbs were flashing all over our heads.  Of the eight of us that ate dinner together the previous night, three were now puking their guts out...never a good sign.  It now felt to the remainder of us like "Italian Survivor" as we played the waiting game to see who would be the next to go.  Ironically, Dr. Edwards chose this point to begin the story of the Bubonic Plague, which struck the world in 1349 and wiped out as many as 25 million people...At the time I failed to see the humor of the situation.
			When we continued again, our tour brought us to the focal point of the famous Florentine skyline:  The Church of St. Mary of the Flower.  Begun in 1296, the massive church was at the time the grandest of all cathedrals.  The entire complex, composed of the cathedral, dome and outside baptistery are collectively known as the "Duomo" and the red brick roof of the great dome can be seen literally for miles in every direction.  In 1401, after 50 years had passed since the destruction left by the plague, the Catholic church held a famous contest to design the golden doors which would commemorate the large baptistery of St. John the Baptist.  The contest came down to two contestants:  Lorenzo Ghiberti and Filippo Brunelleschi.  Their entry, known as the sacrifice of Isaac, was finally judged and to Brunelleschi's eternal dismay, Ghiberti came out as the winner.  He worked on the doors for dozens of years and upon completion the masterpiece was dubbed "The Gates of Paradise".  Meanwhile, Brunelleschi was so put off by the loss that he decided to give up his trade and took up sculpture and architecture instead.  He took on the huge project of designing and building a dome for the cathedral in 1420, and by 1463 the huge octagonal cupola was complete.  Finally, the church was finished and could be used for worship, and what a way to finish it.  The massive red dome was built without scaffolding, and is considered by all to be a masterpiece.  Architects are still amazed to this day at the construction of it.
		As we were approaching the Duomo, it began to rain on us and we immediately joined in the large rush to get inside and dry.  Inside, Alan was the next of us to lose it, and with people dropping like flies all around me I began to psych myself into feeling sick.  We continued, cautiously, through the church and with only one more stop in our tour, I tried to convince myself that I would be fine.  We came to the church  of St. Mary the New, which turned out to just be an average Catholic church.  It wasn't very significant as far as tours go, but I did learn a little more about the Catholics.  For instance, we talked about how the church believes that when the Lord's supper is taken, the wine and bread actually are transformed into the blood and body of the savior.  This is something I was not really aware of, and is an interpretation that is much different that one I would make based on scripture.  The stop at the church was a brief one, and at that point we were released for the rest of the day, which was now cold and rainy.  I opted to head straight back to the hotel and try to get some rest, since my stomach at this point was feeling a little woozy.  And, I definitely wasn't going to miss seeing the David tomorrow.  So, I took a warm shower and hit the sack early for a long night's rest.