Sunday, June 21

Up early this morning and left the hotel with all our bags at 7 AM. We said goodbye to Adam and Ida who returned to Israel.  Adam still has a week of school left and he would have loved to stay with us.

 Our first visit on a bright sunny Sunday morning was appropriately to the mountain top Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi. 

They had a blessing of the horses while we were there.  I was surprised to see they all road western and some had chaps and spurs just like in the old west.

The old art work was amazing and the quaint town picture perfect.  After lunch we headed out to Florence.  Since the museums in Florence are closed on Monday we were fortunate to get an appointment to visit the Accademia Gallery which houses the famous Michaelangelo statue of David.

And the Rape of the Sabines

The Accademia is filled with the art for which Florence is famous.

  In the early evening we checked into Hotel Ercolini e Savi in the spa town of Montecantini for dinner and two nights. We were glad to see that we had a special basin in our hotel room for soaking your feet.