Florence 2026 Day 2 | One Day at a Time

Continued from Florence 2026 Day 1.

Another Airbnb, another Nespresso machine.

Shit, this one is different from the other ones. It only brews in bigger cup sizes and overflowed.

Meanwhile RL is helping the kids look up how to craft potion in Minecraft. LKL has been so excited talking to us about Minecraft and wants to teach us how to play. This feels like when as a child I used to ask my mom to sit in front of the fish tank that we had and just look at the fish with me. It must have been so boring for my mom especially when she’s so busy raising kids, cooking and cleaning. Now it’s boring for me having to learn to play Minecraft with my kids, but I remember how much love I felt when my mom did sit with me to look at the fish, so I’ll suffer and do some Minecraft back in Austin.

RL went out this morning to look at some vintage shops. She still regrets missing the flea market in Paris so she’s been trying to make up for it. I’m happy sitting here blogging and the kids are happy sitting here on their iPads. Honestly, don’t really want to get out into the streets in Florence. It’s so unpleasantly filled with tourists.

These are RL’s pics.

Alright, it’s time for me to take the kids and go buy some lunch for us at the grocery store right around the corner.

Shit amounts of tourists just everywhere. It literally feels like the same amount of tourists as being inside the Louvre, except it’s just on the streets everywhere inside central Florence. This is the first place since inside the Louvre that I’ve seen large tour groups. I’d say there are even more large tour groups here in Florence than there are in Paris. Speaking of tour groups, I haven’t seen much Chinese/Asian tour groups here in Europe at all this trip. I remember some 12 years ago for our honeymoon, we saw large Chinese tour groups EVERYWHERE. Crazy how things change so much in just a little bit over a decade.

Close by, and well stocked,

Yup, that’s right, we are having sushi for lunch again. The kids saw premade sushi at the grocery store and it’s a done deal.

Oh the walk back, we also saw this short con 3 cups and a ball game(I guess like 3 card money) going on. As I snapped this photo from this distance away, one of the con crew told me no photos. Still got my photo, asshole for scamming people. Then I explained to the kids how this scam works, etc. etc. You know it’s touristy with dumb tourists when they can run these games and make money.

Speaking of scams, they also have scams where they place cheap posters on the ground in places where there’s a lot of people and hard to avoid. If you accidentally step on one, or they claim that you accidentally stepped on one, they yell at you and try to force you to pay for it.

Sushi lunch, except we don’t have soy sauce and the sushi containers didn’t come with soy sauce. Doh.

Lunch is done, we’ve got our one big timed entry for the day to walk to.

I feel bad for buskers now. No one carries cash anymore. In fact, I went through an entire 3 week trip without acquiring/using a single British Pound or Euro. Everyone takes electronic payments now, cash is dead, even in Europe.

Accademia Gallery, here to see the original Michelangelo’s David sculpture. There are lines here, but thankfully I’ve already booked timed entry tickets and the line is in the shade. It’s hot here in Florence.

And it’s uncomfortably crowded inside here. Do not enjoy.

Rape of the Sabine. Apparently Romans stole the Sabine women in order to marry them.

Haha, why is this funny?

Martyrdom of the Teeth!

I don’t know about you, but the renaissance is full of paintings of terrible things happening to people.

Now finally, to see David.

Along with some of Michelangelo’s unfinished works.

David’s hands are way too big, like disproportionally so. Must have been done on purpose, no?

RL took this photo actually. She said she was impressed by the amount of detail that was put into the foreskin. Did Michelangelos snicker to himself as he was polished the cock and balls?

Love these paintings within a painting.

This is actually kinda cool.

All these had bits of metal rods that had been cut off. Is there an internal metal framework?

Good dog.

Same one but different scale. PL and I took our time(you can see us at left) exploring this gallery together. Daughter father bonding time here.

There’s a lot of people. The extra AC is welcome, it’s still a little bit hot but not too bad.

I like grabbing boobies.

Alright, that’s enough renaissance art. It’s not usually my favorite and not for RL as well. We came, we saw David, we hate the crowds, let’s go. RL said this was her lest favorite museum ever. Apparently it was too much religious art.

Blah, hate the crowds here in Florence.

Oh, saw this random Asia grocery store that has all sorts of random stuff. The kids wanted to go in because the chopsticks would move up and down in the display and the kids thought it was really cool.

Wish, they’ve got Dr Pepper in random flavors here!

This is crazy that they stock this here. I don’t even see this stuff in America often.

Stopped by the local Florence soccer team store to buy a jersey for LKL.

CL showing off her painted nails from back in Bologna.

It’s time to stay in for a nap and avoid the hottest part of the day now. ZZZZzzz.

Getting a talking to. He’s been a handful this trip. I want to say even more so than when we went to Japan last year. It’s been a struggle traveling with 3 kids. Just relentless questions, defiance, and hyperactivity. Sigh.

Now walking to dinner.

If I didn’t have kids with me and have to answer all their questions, I would have taken a closer look at this to see what all is offered in a condom vending machine.

They are really into allergy lists here in Italy. Is it a law or something?

When in Italy, charcuterie board. Kids love honey with their cheese, and I actually like the mild flavored honey here too.

Loves sitting by the AC. It’s so hot here they had to bring out a portable AC just to keep it a little less hot. Still can’t keep up with the heat though.

Apparently steak is a big thing in this part of Italy.

Yum. It was quite good.

Of course, more gelatos.

I guess if anything, the kids will remember having a lot of gelatos. LKL got in trouble at dinner, and as punishment didn’t get gelatos tonight. Sigh.