Overview of Florence. (Click on photos to enlarge.) Florence was beautiful, from all reports. "Crowded, noisy, don't want to come back in the summer ever, but beautiful." Both Matt and Mark could not say enough about Florence. The stuff of romance, roses, and red rooftops. They loved Florence. 
The kids sang a couple of songs on the steps in front of the Duomo which was well received by the crowds. (Photo: "Okay everyone look left...Ali, not right, left!" Ali is left side, row two, second in.)
The evening ICC performance was outstanding, singing to a packed house at the concert hall in a deconsecrated church. 
Photo: Crowds on their way to the Ponte Vecchio to shop. The shopping was "tons of fun." This one I personally don't understand...can you imagine wanting to shop when you are in the very same town as THE UFFIZI GALLERY MUSEUM? It defies explanation in my book. To pass up the Uffizi in order to have time to shop...where have all the reasonable people gone? Okay, I might be a minority in this. But, come on...it's the UFFIZI, one of the most famous museums for painting and sculpture in the world! I bet you all know what I would have done in Florence! At least they saw the Academia where David spends his days with his fellow works of art. There may be some hope for the future. They passed up the Uffizi...I still can't actually believe it. There is no good explanation for this! (I did, however, get a very beautiful necklace from the Ponte Vecchio from Mark, so I guess I should be a lot more appreciative of the shopping...it is very pretty and very sweet of him to think of me.) But...passing up the UFFIZI?????