Florence

Last week we went to Florence, Italy for 3 days. I have to say, Florence is a beautiful city. We spent all of our time in the old City Center, and to me it was the picturesque Italian city I have been expecting to see ever since we got here.

We got there late Monday afternoon and just wandered around the city center. There were a lot of other people out and it was fun to mingle with the crowds.

The next morning we went to the Uffizi, which is considered by many to be the most famous museum in Italy. There was a lot of religious art and a lot of paintings of nudes. It was interesting to go through the museum, but I wish they would have hung signs over the really famous paintings letting us know to stop and look at those! I enjoyed the museum to a certain extent. I have to admit that after a while all the paintings started to look alike and I (along with Brian and Scott) were ready to leave! No photographs are allowed in the museums, which is understandable. Well, actually we were allowed to take a picture in the Uffizi, looking out their window at the scene below:

That's the Ponte Vecchio. It's a very old pedestrian only bridge. It's lined by very exclusive gold and silver jewelry stores. We walked across the bridge, but like most of the other people we just looked in the shop windows. There seemed to be very few people actually in the stores!

Here's a picture of the kids on the Ponte Vecchio looking back towards the Uffizi.

The rest of that day was spent eating lunch (which takes at least an hour and a half since restaurants in Italy do not believe in quick service), and shopping. Oh yes, shopping. We all found some things we wanted to buy at these great little stalls they had set up in a piazza. Kimberly and I really enjoyed ourselves!

The next day we went to see Florence's Duomo. A Duomo is essentially a large cathedral, and many cities in Italy have one. Florence's Duomo looks very different from Milan's Duomo, but they are both beautiful. In this picture, the building on the left is the cathedral, the building in the middle is the bell tower, and the building on the right is the baptistry.
These are replicas of the gold doors of the baptistry. The originals are in a museum somewhere, but even the replicas were pretty impressive.
It's possible to climb the almost 400 stairs to the dome of the Duomo. Possible for the kids anyway. Robert and I waited below, rather than risk a heart attack mid-climb! I sent Brian up with my camera. Here's a picture of the sort of steps they were climbing. Looking at those makes me know I made the right choice to stay on the ground!
This is one of the domes in the Duomo. Part way up the steps, there was a path that led around the Duomo. Brian was able to take this picture from the walkway.
Here's one of the pictures Brian took of the view from the top of the Duomo. Beautiful, isn't it. I would have loved to have seen those views, but like you, I'll have to be content with pictures.
For me, I think the highlight of the trip to Florence was going to see Michelangelo's sculpture of David. It is a beautiful sculpture. Much larger than I thought. It is close to 20 feet tall and stood on a base that was about that tall. I was amazed at the incredible detail. You could see where Michelangelo had carved the veins in David's arms and hands. I can see why people say it's the most beautiful sculpture in the world.

As I said, we couldn't take pictures in the museums, but in one of the piazzas they have a copy to the sculpture. It's not as amazing as the original, but it's still pretty impressive.
After that, we left Florence and headed elsewhere. Stay tuned for our adventures in Lucca and Pisa.