Our first full day in Florence, Italy. The sunny day began with a lovely breakfast on our hotel’s rooftop terrace. Surrounded by the beautiful garden around us, we had fruit, pastries, Italian meat and cheese. After breakfast we arrived for a walking tour of Florence by an experienced tour guide with a strong background in history and art education. The tour was nearly 3 hours long and included many of Michaelangelo’s works, including his most famous sculpture, David. I was profoundly moved as the guide shared of Michaelangelo as a genius in the art world. David, meant to depict the biblical young man who fought the giant Goliath, held a sling shot in one of his hands. The tour guide described how Michaelangelo incorporated veins into the body of David to demonstrate how his body was prepared to battle the giant. She walked us around the David, emphasizing how his eyes looked as he gazed upon the giant before him. This work was truly a creative masterpiece! Along with the David, Academia Gallery housed many other works throughout its interior by famous artists such as Leonardo Da’Vinci and Brunelesci. Our tour continued throughout the streets of Florence, hearing about leaders from the past like the Di Medicci family. We saw their palaces and great replicas of famous art around them. I departed from this tour feeling a great deal more knowledgeable in terms of the history in this great city. Our day continued having real Italian pizza for lunch while some of my colleagues went on a food tour throughout the city with an experienced tour guide. They learned about authentic Italian food and how it is prepared. They experienced taste-testing many different foods. What a wonderful opportunity to learn about the culture and how they prepare food for their families.

Later that afternoon we had the opportunity to tour the Boboli Gardens. This garden was miles long full of intricate art, stone work, and large hills to climb. The view over the city of Florence was amazing as we stood at the top of the hill and looked around below us! We attended with many of our close colleagues from the Reggio-inspired collaborative, Michigan Inspirations. This group was started in 2011 with many Reggio early childhood schools throughout the state of Michigan. After the garden visit, we attended dinner with members of the collaborative and celebrated Kayla Cornell’s birthday with her! Happy Birthday was sung to Kayla in 6 different languages by members of the group and our Italian waiter! We had an incredible time as we celebrated together with one another. What a wonderful day it was!