This was the view from our window in Florence...
We were right on the street, it was really loud and there was a bar under us where tons of people were cheering for something. It was so loud even late into the night... Well probably all night.
Anyway we woke up early because church was a 50 min walk away. Then we figured out that there was a bus that could drop us close by so we walked to the bus stop, rode the bus and walked the last bit of the way.
Walking...
We found it!!
The building is 2 stories. When we first got inside we were confused because we heard someone speaking in English from the overflow speakers and the website said that sacrament was at 10:50am and we got there at about 10 because of the bus. So when we walked up to the chapel and saw sacrament going on and it was in English we were even more confused Haha. Until someone from the high council and the missionaries came out and told us what was going on. Apparently the first Florence stake was just organized 2 weeks before and the wards and branches (church units) were all being reorganized with new boundaries and bishops on the Sunday that we were visiting. So the meeting times were changed so the stake presidency could visit all the wards in one day. The high coucilman was there to provide sacrament meeting for a group of BYU students who were in the area and then provide sacrament meeting for the tourists (ourselves and four others) who were visiting. So they were authorized to hold sacrament meetings for us.
One of the missionaries we met knew Eric (my little brother serving a 2 year mission in the Rome Italy Mission) from being together in the MTC (missionary training center). He said that they used to always write each other after the MTC until things got busy. I told Eric and he thought that was really cool that we met him!
Waiting at the bus stop! Those three people by the pole were at church with us! The guy on the other side of the girl, who you can't see very well, is traveling around the world. He said he has already been out for 6 months and started on the east coast of the US, he went to Egypt saw Jerusalem and Bethlehem and is now in Europe; he started in the highlands and came all the way down and is now headed to Greece with his friend (the girl).
The man they were talking to was an awesome local with an amazing testimony! :)
Nathan is getting some scruff! We forgot a couple things at home and his razor was one of them. It's been really weird for us. I think he looks good still :) But it will be nice when he is clean shaven again :)
Nathan in front of the Ferrari store! :)
We went to see the Duomo! (In case you are wondering, yes we trade off holding the camera, Nathan is a great photographer to!).
The Duomo - This building is very intricately colored. When we saw it for the first time we thought it was painted to look this way. We learned, however, that the building is actually made of different colored rock. It was large and very impressive. We learned that, for a long time, the dome on this building was the largest in the world. Modern engineering has since made larger domes, but remains the worlds largest handmade brick dome.
We sat for a while out of the sun waiting for the line to get into the Duomo to die down and this lady was playing really peaceful, beautiful music! Perfect for Sunday! :)
We made it inside the Duomo!
Looking up inside the dome! :)
The front.
So ... This is a little silly but when we saw this we were reminded of Dumbledore's lectern from the Harry Potter movies. Haha
This was the front door of where we stayed. Nathan was going to shut the door on me ;) haha
We were going back to grab all of our stuff and catch our train to La Spezia.
Walking to the train station with all of our stuff! :)
On the train! :)
The view from the train :)
Welcome to La Spezia! This was the view right outside of the station! It was so nice!
Walking to our place in La Spezia! :)
This was the best picture I could get. When we got to our room we were greeted by the man who owned/managed the hotel, Simone. He was SO nice!!! He gave us a map of the town, told us where all the good places to eat were, he told us how everything worked in the room, he told us all about Cinque Terre and its cities and even walked us out to the main square where the food was and where we could get breakfast with his redeemable tickets and so much more! He was seriously the best! We loved our stay at his hotel!! It was perfect and he seriously was the best host we have had so far!
This was our room! There were even little chocolates on the pillows!!! They were so yummy! And we even got a little key that gave us a discount to get hot chocolate! We totally used it and we are now hooked on Italian hot cocoa! Yum!
Anyway after this we went to sleep! :)
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