On Tuesday, we drove into Florence. It was a long drive. We were following Rob. Rob has this job that he goes into these dangerous zones, like war zones and stuff, and leads a television news crew. He said he’s never lost a crew – until now. It was all going fine until we got into the city of Florence. We were driving along and a car swerved in and almost hit Rob’s car, right where Benjamin was sitting. But it didn’t. Rob crossed a bridge cars were not supposed to be on. So now we were driving through a city with pedestrians everywhere, where cars weren’t supposed to be. It was for authorized personnel only, like police. The streets were really narrow. And I was scared, a little. Like we were being honked at, or yelled at, by a lot of people. Then there was a bridge where we could go over to the other side. Rob kept going straight, but we ditched him and turned. We went across the bridge, and eventually came to a parking garage, and called Rob. We were safe!

Dad said there’d be amazing gift shops. So far I haven’t seen any. Then we walked into the main square with a giant dome and two towers. The line to go into the dome was like really long. So we decided to just go into the tower. It was hard enough walking on the straight stairs, but then we got to this really super crammed in spiral stairs. We made it to the third level, then a huge bell started ringing, it was noon, just as we were getting into the stairway again. So we had to wait while the bell was like shaking the tower, with echoes. It was horrible. Mom was claustrophobic and so she didn’t come. It was only me, dad, Mike and Helen. Mike was always the last to come up. Then we got to the top. It was cool. There were four hundred fourteen steps. The view was incredible.

Then we were walking along the streets of Florence. No gift shops. Everything was either super duper expensive, or junk. But next time we go to Florence on Thursday, these guys sell these things that go splat when you throw them on the concrete, then you pick them up and they come back together, and you can throw them again. (Dad typed that and made it sound kind of boring.)

Then we had lunch and gelato afterward. Then we went to the Uffizi Museum, which is world famous. I don’t like paintings. Not one bit. So we got into the museum, and I saw a bunch of sculptures in the hallway. I like sculptures. Then we went into the rooms. They were all paintings. I didn’t enjoy it. But then dad said I could get an extra wooden sword if I didn’t complain. Eventually, we left.

I didn’t like my dinner; it was extra cheesy pizza. Then we drove home. That was my day.