Day 9 - A Day of Food

Our last day in Florence began later than we would have liked. For that reason we each pounded a cliff bar on the way out the door (trying to enduce the taste of gelato or a chocolate covered scone, however peanut butter crunch got the job done). We were headed towards The Domo. The Domo is a huge domed Cathedral that is the tallest building in the city. It features a 360° balcony which allows for unbelievable views the whole way around. Getting to this balcony was quite a journey. With there being no elevator, we navigated up hundreds of steps (420 to be exact ) through cramped stairwells which was no problem for Taylor the tiny traveler. Ed on the other hand will be taking pieces of the Domo hallway ceilings home with him in his fedora. After enjoying the view for about a half hour, we decided to have lunch and more importantly cold water (It was about 90° and sunny). We found a small restaraunt where we endulged in a lunch for the record books, followed by a chocolate cake that Justin described as "Swimming in Mt. Vesuvius filled with warm creamy chocolate while tiny chocolate chip explosions hit you where it felt best". After lunch we hit The David. We were afraid that none of us would be able to appreciate the artistic value of the statue however we were pleasantly surprised upon arrival. It truly was an impressive sight. After scouring the museum for David's workout routine, we decided to give up and move on. We soon found ourselves in an outdoor market full of leather goods, fake watches and a few sketchy characters. Regardless we knew there was gold to be found and we started looking. With our wallets clinched tightly in our hands we debated and bargained, fighting for every euro we could get. At one point I don't think any of us were even shopping. We were doing it for sport. Exhausted from a long day, we crawled back to our hostel. We decided that it would be a good time to do laundry. We did not realize that there were not enough dryers however Kyle, being the prepared cubscout that he is,  had string and clothes pins. We strung up our room and hung our clothes. This fact combined with our bunkbeds in the hallway made our room into a jungle. We then head off to dinner at Acqua al 2. This was one of the best meals we had in Italy. We sampled five dishes of pasta and proceeded to have steaks including one covered in a blueberry sauce and as always, bottles of house wine. We stopped at a few bars on the way home before it a night.