How I Spent Thanksgiving Day In Florence Italy - Sightseeing Famous Spots & Finding American Cuisine
Thanksgiving Day In Italy
Transcript
0:03
Today's adventure begins as the
0:03
recording of this Thursday, November
0:05
27th,
0:07
2025.
0:09
I'm in Florence, Italy
0:12
on Thanksgiving.
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I'm going to try at some point today to
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get an Italian Thanksgiving meal.
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Obviously, that's been Americanized,
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the holiday that I celebrate every year.
0:26
I'm celebrating it overseas
0:28
in Italy. I'm gonna have myself a
0:31
Thanksgiving
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in Florence, Italy. The weather is very,
0:37
very nice and cool and crisp. I'm loving
0:39
this weather. Got the hoodie up.
0:42
Ready to do some exploring.
0:44
Take a look over here in this window.
0:46
They're making fresh pasta for all to
0:48
see. They even have a little window
0:50
where you can see how they make the
0:52
pasta.
0:54
That's fun.
0:56
Little behind the scenes here at this
0:59
restaurant.
1:05
>> Welcome everyone. Adam the Woo here. As
1:06
you can tell by my face. Definitely need
1:08
some coffee. Looked up some of the best
1:11
coffee places in the area. It just so
1:13
happens to be one on that list that's
1:15
right around the corner. So, I'm going
1:17
to get myself a piping hot caffeinated
1:18
beverage and start this Thanksgiving off
1:21
with a little caffeine.
1:26
Shall we?
1:26
>> All right. This is the spa. The name of
1:27
the place is
1:29
Ala Grande. Looks like a really cool
1:33
little place. Grab a cup of Joe. Now,
1:34
the name of the place was Alla Grande
1:36
Cafe. They serve food. I did not get any
1:39
food cuz I'm going to be eating a little
1:40
bit later.
1:42
But I definitely wanted to get a cup of
1:44
coffee. When when she first came up and
1:46
brought the coffee, I go, "Oh, that's
1:48
not mine." Because she said something
1:49
else. I was confused on what I ordered.
1:51
and she said it in Italian and then
1:54
brought she brought it back. He goes,
1:55
"Oh, no. This is yours." And the size of
1:57
the coffee, I guess it would be kind of
1:58
like a vinty from Starbucks. But usually
2:00
when you go to a cafe, you get a tinier.
2:02
Even like the largest are like really
2:04
small. This was different. This thing
2:06
was massive. This was in like a like a
2:09
big like por almost like a big porcelain
2:11
cup. It was a very very hot, very tasty,
2:14
very very strong. I only drank about
2:16
half of it and I'm already pretty dang
2:18
hyped up. But I also like the inside. I
2:20
ended up sitting outside at a table. So,
2:23
once again, this is the name of the
2:24
place, Alleg Grande
2:26
Cafe.
2:28
She said, "Oh, definitely take a card."
2:31
I'm not sure what I'm going to do with
2:32
the card, but yeah, I'm just going to
2:33
show it in the video. And you can see
2:35
there's a lot of bicycles out here.
2:36
There's a lot of scooters. Very popular
2:38
place starting to fill up down there.
2:40
But yeah, a little local localized
2:42
coffee that was way too large to be
2:45
sitting at a table. You know, usually if
2:48
I'm like grabbing a a a to- go type of
2:51
cup, takes me an hour or so to walk, but
2:53
when you're sitting there for just a few
2:54
minutes, it's like have to kind of chug
2:56
it quick. I start making my way over to
2:58
a museum that has
3:01
the world famous statue of David. See it
3:04
with my own eyes.
3:07
It's not it. This is another sculpture.
3:09
Beautiful sculpture here.
3:13
Some carvings here along the base. All
3:25
right. I believe this is the line to get
3:26
in the museum to see the statue of David
3:28
and other pieces of art. I did not buy
3:30
in advance advance, but went ahead and
3:33
just got it online. Some place you have
3:34
to buy in advance, but this line doesn't
3:35
look too long.
3:51
This piece of artwork obviously
3:51
is the resurrection called the
3:55
resurreion deto.
3:58
And you look back here you can see the
4:00
city of Florence in the background. It's
4:03
also interesting that Jesus is coming
4:04
out of a grave like a sarcophagus tomb
4:08
and not with the rock
4:12
rolled away.
4:25
All the different saints down below
4:25
here. And then you got up top you got
4:27
Virgin Mary.
4:30
That's probably supposed to symbolize
4:32
God.
4:34
Oh my gosh. There is the statue of David
4:37
right there.
4:39
Way off over there. It's massive.
4:42
There's another by Michelangelo as well.
5:08
right. I kind of half expected this to
5:08
be like life size, not gargantuan size.
5:13
This thing is like 25 ft tall. Amazing.
5:17
So, I want to go by and see the two
5:18
imitation copies, two recreations. One
5:21
is in the Piaza Signoria
5:25
and there's another one at a viewpoint
5:27
called Piaza Michelangelo overlooking
5:30
Florence. It was done in 1866. So
5:33
evidently there's three of them. I guess
5:35
this is probably the largest of the
5:38
three.
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It's amazing that Michelangelo started
5:41
working on this in 1501.
5:51
Wow. And Michelangelo did a lot of
5:51
stuff. I think of the cyine chapel.
5:53
Think of the carving of David.
5:59
I was thinking when I saw the cysteine
5:59
chapel.
6:04
Creative works like this is what people
6:04
dwelled on
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where today, you know, you have TV,
6:10
video games,
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social media.
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Got to wonder if stuff like this would
6:16
have ever happened if there was, you
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know, social media back in the day. Like
6:21
how the shadow was cast right there.
6:25
So he's standing, his base of his foot
6:27
was right here on a stone or on the
6:30
ground and then you have like a root
6:32
system. You go up,
6:36
you see, it's interesting, too. You can
6:37
see the veins
6:39
in his arm. He's holding on to the
6:42
pebble or the rock that he used in the
6:44
sling. And the sling is going over his
6:47
shoulder to represent when he fought
6:49
Goliath.
6:51
But why is he nude? Like did he fight
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Goliath in a nude? Like wouldn't he be
6:56
wearing clothes if he had the sling or
6:58
did he just I don't understand.
7:02
Why would he be completely naked
7:05
with the sling on?
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I really don't know.
7:22
>> I'm going to use this to cover the
7:22
nether regions
7:24
just a little bit.
7:36
Really is incredible. Again, seeing
7:36
photos of this my entire life. Never did
7:39
realize
7:40
the magnitude and size of this. I
7:42
thought it was probably going to be like
7:43
maybe a 10ft sculpture, maybe a six or
7:46
seven foot sculpture, like more of a
7:47
life-sized cast.
7:56
Just think of the time and effort took
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to make this.
8:05
So, he's holding onto a sling there, the
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top portion of the sling,
8:08
and then down near the crotch area is
8:11
where he's holding the with the rock.
8:25
>> Wow, this is a room full of
8:25
many, many bust carvings.
9:00
and of course exit through the gift
9:00
shop.
9:09
It's
9:09
>> kind of neat. A little just the head of
9:11
David. I got two little souvenirs. I got
9:13
a small magnet of David's head there
9:16
with his hand grappling the grappling
9:20
the sling that some say he used to fight
9:25
Goliath either before or after the fight
9:28
with Goliath. And then I also got this
9:30
little coin.
10:23
>> This is a impressive building right
10:23
here.
10:31
The scooters going by. Also, I've been
10:31
mentioning while I've been staying here
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that the gelato
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are definitely on every corner. The
10:39
gelato places. This is a very popular
10:41
one. Look at the line to get in this
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gelato place. I think I'm going to get
10:45
some food first before I have dessert
10:46
and gelato. But I'm going have some
10:47
gelato later on. Maybe. Maybe. There's a
10:49
bunch of stickers on here. There's also
10:51
an oversized sticker of the sculpture of
10:54
David as well.
11:04
I have now arrived over at the Basilica
11:04
of Santa Crochce,
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the square,
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the piaza
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Santa Croche.
11:20
A lot of taxis
11:20
and vehicles coming through here.
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Bicycles
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cutting across.
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And there's the basilica.
11:38
And there's a whole plaza here of little
11:38
gift shop stands and things.
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And a vehicle full of street signs.
11:53
All right. This little area is actually
11:53
a Christmas market called Marcato De
11:57
Natal.
11:58
And it's a Christmas market that's
12:00
happening right over next to the
12:02
basilica
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with all kind of ornaments and things
12:07
all through here that you can purchase
12:08
for Christmas. But the appro today
12:10
Thanksgiving. Well, at least in the US
12:12
is Thanksgiving, but we'll be uh
12:14
Christmas sooner than later. Look at
12:16
these little Vikings.
12:18
>> It's kind of cute.
12:20
>> I really like this nativity scene. My
12:22
mom might actually still have one
12:23
similar to that. If I if I had room in
12:26
my luggage to put something that was
12:28
breakable like that, I probably would
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get that. That'd be kind of cute to have
12:31
at my home. I really like the grass on
12:33
the top of the There's no room in the
12:35
end. So, they were they were in the sh
12:37
the little shack there. little with the
12:40
animals, the farm animals and
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everything. There's Mary and Joseph and
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baby Jesus waiting for the wise men to
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arrive stable. That's where their
12:48
stable. It's beginning to look a lot
12:50
like inflatables
12:52
and Christmas. Yeah, I like this
12:54
fountain here with all the bicycles.
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Everyone that's been commuting around
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arriving here at the little Christmas
13:01
basilica festival,
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you got all the bicycles right in front
13:05
of the fountain there. It's kind of a
13:06
nice little image with the the backdrop
13:08
of Italy behind it. I have to say one
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thing I have seen this year at all the
13:13
countries I've gone is a lot of basilas.
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I've definitely hit my basilica quota
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for 2025.
13:24
Is there such thing? Can you Can you see
13:26
too many? They're all beautiful. All
13:28
right. So, Pino's Sandwiches
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has a special
13:34
Thanksgiving meal today. A panini
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sandwich, but it's got some Thanksgiving
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aut.
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>> So, I'm going to have my Thanksgiving
13:44
meal here at Pinos.
14:03
Take a look at all the US pennants up
14:03
here. Different colleges around the
14:05
United States.
14:14
There's a couple options.
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There is turkey breast
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>> which is a panini
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pepperoni spinach
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>> turkey.
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There's also
14:41
>> we're doing on happy Thanksgiving uh one
15:11
All right. I ended up getting two
15:11
sandwiches. I was a little confused by
15:13
the menu. I thought maybe there was
15:14
going to be like a traditional style
15:16
that wasn't on the panini, which I
15:18
should have known it was going to be all
15:19
panini. So, end up getting the turkey
15:21
panini, but then I also get get got the
15:24
what they refer to as the Thanksgiving.
15:27
So this is here is the regular
15:30
turkey panini
15:36
and then this would be the be
15:36
Thanksgiving that has everything that I
15:37
showed on the menu crammed into one on
15:40
the panini. Look at this mashed
15:41
potatoes,
15:44
green bean casserole and turkey and some
15:47
cheese on there all mixed into a nice
15:50
little delicious panini.
16:02
anytime.
16:02
>> Happy Thanksgiving.
16:17
Oh my gosh, this is so good. I love how
16:17
>> everything's just kind of wrapped up in
16:19
there.
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>> So good.
16:28
>> Can't be home. Well, I could be, but I
16:31
decided to travel
16:34
when I'm not home. Next thing I do when
16:36
I'm in Italy is get a panini.
16:40
There's a couple groups of people in
16:41
front of me that were from North
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Carolina. Two different groups of people
16:44
from North Carolina were in front of me.
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>> All the US folks are here.
16:50
>> This is way better than I expected. All
16:53
this kind of mish mash on a panini. I
16:55
guess it's like kind of like taking a
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Thanksgiving meal and taking a biscuit.
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Kind of sapp everything up on there.
17:00
Getting it all sapping it up in the
17:02
biscuit with the
17:05
Yeah, I really like the traditional
17:06
style. It is traditional style food just
17:08
all shoved on a panini. Mashed potatoes,
17:12
traditional cream casserole, turkey
17:15
action.
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>> Probably shouldn't have ordered that
17:17
second panini, but yeah, whatever. It's
17:20
Thanksgiving.
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Got to go all in.
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Also, I got a little piece of turkey
17:25
right there on top of it.
17:27
Outdoor seating is spot, too. Okay, this
17:29
is the second panini. Again, probably
17:31
shouldn't have got two, but didn't
17:33
really understand the how the Happy
17:35
Thanksgiving meal worked, but I got
17:36
plenty of turkey on here as well. So, if
17:38
they didn't have their own specific
17:40
Happy Thanksgiving traditional sauce
17:42
shoved on the panini, this would be the
17:43
next option. So, I was thinking maybe I
17:46
could try both, but I am going to try
17:47
both. I'm going full turkey today. A lot
17:49
of turkey action. Guess this line has
17:51
gotten much longer. Check it out. It is
17:53
a tomato taxi.
17:55
Bringing in the fresh tomatoes to go on
17:57
the sandwiches.
18:05
I don't think the second sandwich was
18:05
quite as Thanksgiving as the first even
18:07
though it was full
18:09
>> full of turkey. Also just got to
18:12
thinking gratzi means thanks is grati
18:16
giving
18:17
their version of thanksgiving. Probably
18:20
not. Yeah. Really glad I did that little
18:22
happy Thanksgiving
18:24
to myself here. Also, this name of this
18:27
road reminds me of something that I
18:29
found out after I was there. So, not
18:31
last night, but the night before I ate
18:33
at one of those outdoor
18:35
Italian restaurant establishments that
18:37
I've been eating at each night. Tonight,
18:39
I will not be doing that because I
18:41
already had my good meal there at the
18:43
panini. But, Pandelini
18:47
reminds me of the name Gandalfini. James
18:49
Gandalfini from the Sopranos. He was
18:51
also also a true romance. The place I
18:54
ate night before last was the last place
18:57
he ever ate before he passed away. It
19:00
was over in Rome. Was not here. So it
19:02
was a couple days ago. A couple nights
19:03
ago, but I was in Rome. The restaurant I
19:05
ate at James Gandalf. Not Pandle any but
19:08
it did remind me though to mention it.
19:10
That was where
19:12
>> where he ate and then passed away
19:13
shortly after. That was the last place
19:16
that he was photographed before passing.
19:20
It's an interesting coincidence that I
19:21
ate there. All right. And now
19:22
approaching
19:24
another square. And this is the area
19:26
where the reproduction
19:29
of the David sculpture is
19:33
identical,
19:35
but not the original. Probably not as
19:37
tall.
19:44
You know, now that I'm looking at it, I
19:44
think this might actually be the same
19:46
size
19:54
as the other David
19:54
size-wise, heightwise. Well, maybe not.
19:56
This seems to be just maybe a little bit
19:59
maybe like a foot. This section here
20:01
might be a little smaller, but I don't
20:03
know.
20:17
This one's located
20:17
this courtyard next to this other art
20:18
museum.
20:24
And then there's this one. And this one
20:24
has a little little thatch
20:29
over the midsection.
20:40
There's another art museum here where
20:40
there's a very famous
20:42
>> painting of Medusa that I want to say.
20:44
So, we're going to pop in here.
20:55
This is who I was named after in the
20:55
Bible. Adam from Adam and Eve
21:09
Some
21:10
>> really good views out the windows of the
21:11
museum. There's the bridge
21:14
that I watched a little bit of dusk in
21:16
the
21:18
beginning of sunset last night on.
21:21
I'm inside the museum up on the fourth
21:23
floor
21:26
of the museum.
21:49
This painting is by Francisco Granachi.
21:49
It is titled the entry of Charles VI
21:53
into Florence.
22:04
You step out on the ledge out here at
22:04
the top of the roof. The Dwammo over
22:09
Also a little closer view top of the
22:13
bell tower here at this particular
22:15
basilica.
22:23
And there's the bell tower.
22:23
Now, last night,
22:25
yesterday in the evening, part before
22:27
last night, climbed all the way to the
22:30
tippy top of that thing, and I'm still
22:32
feeling it. Legs are a little sore. This
22:35
is a portrait of Giovani de Medisi.
22:38
And it's like a little young holding a
22:41
bird.
22:51
Here is a painting of an artistic
22:51
rendering of Luke painting the Virgin
22:54
Mary.
22:55
Luke is said to be the first person to
22:57
ever paint the Virgin Mary. And this is
22:58
a painting
23:01
of Luke painting the Virgin Mary for the
23:03
first time.
23:11
Found the room with the world famous
23:11
Medusa painting.
23:29
>> Yeah. In fact, it's on a parade shield
23:29
given to Grand Duke Ferdinando
23:33
by Cardinal Francisco Maria Delonte.
23:48
The subject
23:48
based on classic myths myths on which he
23:52
had trained in his youth is
23:53
reinterpreted here in the naturalistic
23:56
vein. The eyes open wide in horror. The
23:59
mouth frozen in a cry of revulsion. The
24:03
writhing tangle of serpents paralyzed.
24:06
The scientific plates commissioned by
24:08
the DC from Jacopa. Lozi
24:13
seemingly at odds with drastic severed
24:15
neck.
24:18
Oil on canvas panel.
24:21
Inventory 1890.
25:01
And as part for the course with pretty
25:01
much everything I've been doing in the
25:03
last week or so, exit.
25:05
through the gift shop. And I got myself
25:09
sweet little Medusa mag. Love this. Love
25:13
it.
25:50
Yeah, see some stairs there.
25:50
Or maybe I'll take this walkway.
25:53
This is really fascinating. Inside these
25:57
little archways, there's a few of them.
26:00
some like erosion of the rock
26:03
due to a slight waterfall.
26:07
The water
26:09
ends up down here.
26:12
You see the water going down the side of
26:13
all that
26:15
moss and foliage that has grown up and
26:17
then you got the rocks there. This is
26:19
beautiful.
26:38
And the strongest of all the waterfalls
26:38
is the middle one
26:40
which is kind of flooding out into here.
26:43
But look at this.
26:45
Wow, that is neat.
26:48
I really like that.
26:56
Beautiful.
26:56
like unintentionally beautiful.
27:08
It almost looks like the rock on the
27:08
side of the castle walls here
27:11
or the walls of the fort. They almost
27:13
make like little faces. Like you can
27:15
almost see a little face of an animal
27:17
head there, a turtle head. You know,
27:20
it's all just like looking at clouds.
27:22
You never know what you're going to
27:24
visually see.
27:30
So, keep continuing up. I got to climb
27:30
those stairs.
27:32
I got distracted by looking at this. And
27:35
you spin around
27:37
and you can see Florence off in the
27:40
distance. And this big tower, lookout
27:43
tower
27:45
from the old fort
27:47
you see right next to us.
28:17
I don't remember which one has less
28:17
less switchbacks. So,
28:19
>> yeah.
28:29
And you reach the top and there is the
28:29
third David sculpture. The second
28:32
recreation.
28:34
Saw the original and now I've seen both
28:36
recreations. That one is silhouetted out
28:40
The shroud of pre- dusk.
29:01
It is windy.
29:01
That's what I climbed to the top of last
29:03
night up at the bumo.
29:23
some of the landmarks. There's
29:23
the tower over there that I passed by,
29:27
the dome,
29:29
the bell tower,
29:32
this cathedral here.
29:34
I believe this basilica is where the
29:38
Christmas
29:40
>> Christmas village was,
29:43
flea market of sorts, museum that I went
29:45
through. See, Medusa was right there
29:48
where those three archways are in the
29:49
center of the screen.
29:54
Barely see it. I'll walk over there a
29:54
little closer. But you see the the
29:56
bridge, this elevator that crosses.
29:57
Walked all the way from there as well.
30:36
Also, just to mention that this statue
30:36
of David
30:38
is made of bronze. The other ones are
30:40
not made of bronze. This is the only one
30:41
of the three. This is the second
30:44
recreation of the original one.
30:47
This one of the two is made of bronze.
30:51
Definitely getting some nice little
30:53
views there as the sun is setting,
30:54
bouncing off the clouds. Very beautiful
30:57
up here. We'll start think I'm going to
30:59
grab a taxi and head back over to the
31:01
Duomo.
32:34
And that's going to do it for today
32:34
from Florence, Italy.
32:38
Thanks for watching. I'll see you in the
32:39
next video. Happy Thanksgiving. I
32:41
celebrated
32:43
in Italy. It was nice. I'll see you in
32:45
the next video. The vlog
32:48
>> is over. I believe.