Florence

Florence was our third stop.  Well, mine anyway.  I think it might have been my favorite.  It was a full, good day.

We made it back from Lucca in good daylight.  We hunted up the bus station and got directions to the right bus stop and the right bus.  After a couple passed us by (could we really get on 23A instead of plain old 23?) we finally got on a bus that took us to the promised stop just a few blocks from our hotel.  

 

We checked in and dropped our stuff and then headed out one more time to get dinner.  We picked a close place and got a family size pizza to share.  And ate it all. Then after checking in with our stateside peeps we went off to bed.  We were all still pretty tired.

Our first stop, after breakfast in the hotel, was the Piazzale Michelangelo. It is the highest point in Florence and provided amazing views of the entire city and some of the countryside.  (Perhaps this is where I warn you that there are a lot pictures in this post.  Like a lot, a lot.  Like a ton.  More than my sister's post and she was the photographer! Be brave!)

We got directions from our nice hotel man.  Down the street, take a right and then through the hole in the wall. 

 Then up the stairs.

 

All the stairs...highest point, remember?

 

 We would have loved to have heard the Gregorian chants at the church at the top at 5:30 that afternoon but pretty much knew we would only have these stairs in us once.  

And a long list of other things we wanted to see.  Just wait, you'll see!

From the top you could see everything!  It was pretty amazing.  (Amazing is a word I will use a lot. It is just about the only word that comes to mind when I think about my trip to Italy.  The age, the beauty, the artistry, the skills and talents, the size, the grandeur...it was all just so amazing!)

 

 

 

 

 

 Want some close ups?  Some of the amazing things we saw from afar and later, up close and in person.

El Duomo

 

 Santa Croce

    

"Old Palace" and bell tower by the Piazza della Signoria

 

El Ponte Vecchio

As we took in the views we also hunted through all the souvenir stands.  Elise and I contemplated the boxers and aprons with the private parts of The David as a gift for our father-in-laws. Considered the reaction of our husbands, mothers-in-law and our fathers-in-law and decided to pass on those and moved on to other ideas.  For the kids I found t-shirts.

I was so pleased to find this woman and her art.  

 

I had almost as many requirements in whatever souvenir I would get as Chris and I do in picking names for our children! I was worried that I had missed my chance in Venice when I didn't get any Venetian glass. But with her I found something one of a kind, Italian and that would always remind me of my trip when I wore it.  

She uses pulled glass to make jewelry. (In Venice, all the glass is blown.)  She and one other person pull their own glass.  It is a dying art.  She has long tubular pieces that she cuts to fit in her mosaic jewelry.

From the Piazza we made our way to Santa Croce.  I was so wowed!

 

Construction was started in 1294 and the neo-gothic facade was added in 1863.

 The detail work was just gorgeous and on every little part of everything!

 

The stained glass inside was beautiful.

The size was just jaw-dropping!  The sheer volume of this place was amazing! 

There were several individual vestibules, I guess I will call them, where people could offer prayers to different saints.  Each had it's own frescoes and detailing on the walls and ceilings.

And in the middle of those vestibules was the main altar area.  It was mainly covered in scaffolding and plastic, which was a disappointment.

Especially after this poster showed what we were missing!

Even the floors were not ignored!

Santa Croce is the resting place of several famous Florentines.

Including Michelangelo,

Galileo,

 Machiavelli,

and Dante.

From the main space we moved to the sacristy.  I haven't a clue what it was used for but it had beautiful doors and frescoes.

When I saw this I thought "how odd" and then it hit me! Duh!  Music for chants! 

Out side into a courtyard area the beauty continued.  From the arches and stone,

to the trees and grass.

Another courtyard led to a hall and then through some rooms, including one where art restoration work was ongoing.

We passed this picture on our way out.  I was so touched by this image and could only imagine what each person was feeling as these events took place.  Mary, as she waited to the body of her son to be placed in her arms (I could just imagine this piece as being moments before the scene depicted in La Pieta), her friends as they tried to comfort her.

I found a lot of the art and styling to be gaudy, overly ornate and not really to my taste but I had the distinct impression as I looked at every inch of Santa Croce covered in carvings, art, statues, engravings, etc. that the people of those times were truly trying to make something that would be worthy of being a place of worship-exactly as I would wish to do. 

One of the things that appealed to me so much about Florence was that despite being a city it was charming. Venice was completely surreal and fantastical to me.  Florence was real but still charming. The streets were narrow and curved gracefully.

 Beautiful buildings overlooked the thoroughfares and piazzas. (I was consistently drawn to the ones with trees, bushes or flowers on the balconies or hanging from the windows.

From Santa Croce we walked to the Piazza Della Signoria, known for being a political center, and filled with statues depicting events in Italian history.  Several are copies, including another of the David (we saw one copy in the Piazza Michelangelo).

It was there that we saw this fellow. Recognize him?

How about this one?

I thought he was pretty impressive (especially after seeing others that were way not as good!) and tried to get a video of him changing positions.  It was like he had radar or something because as soon as I started trying to film him he didn't move.  At all.  Finally, I sent Elise to put money in his hat and I got this instead.

Most of these politically minded buildings (one of which is now the famous Uffizi museum) were designed by Michelangelo.  I knew he had done some pretty great stuff but this trip was truly eye-opening.  I had no clue the extent of his talents and abilities.

From there we came out by the Ponte Vecchio.

I was totally fascinated to learn that it dates back to the 1300s and is the only covered bridge from that era left standing.  Apparently there were some losses during WWII and this is the remaining survivor.  Originally, the bridge was used by blacksmiths and butchers who would throw their refuse in the water.  The upper story of the bridge was used exclusively by the Medici family and enabled them to travel between their properties without mixing with the commoners.  The smell eventually led Duke Ferdinando I to drive out the blacksmiths and butchers and replace them with the gold and silver smiths and jewelers that still sell their wares there today.

The views from the bridge were not bad either! (Is it even possible for there to be bad views in Italy?)

From there we made our way to El Duomo, which was, wait for it...amazing.

We passed these street artists.

Also some open-air markets with beautiful scarves and leather goods.  I got a belt for Chris and completed my souvenir shopping.

On we walked till we spilled out on the far side of a square across from the baptistry and El Duomo.

The marble work was amazing.  The colors and patterns were intricate and there were several different patterns that all worked together.

It was all grand and ornate.  The size was impressive.

These are the doors of the baptistry.

Once inside, I have to admit to a little disappointment.  After Santa Croce, the echoing space of El Duomo was a  bit of a let down.  The floors were probably the coolest part.

Well, that and the ceiling.  Wowza!

We could have spent a lot of time like this but soon I was feeling a little vertigo that once again made me grateful for my travel companions-I needed someone to hold onto!

Back in Santa Croce there were a lot of small altars were patrons can light candles.  I found this candle tree much more charming than the simpler staircase candle stands.  And really, if you can do something and have it be charming, all the better, right?

The outside was massive. You felt like a little ant looking up at it.

Maybe next time I am in Florence I will pay the euros to go up to the observation level on the outside of the dome. 

From there we walked to the Galleria dell' Academia where the David is located. It is a rather unassuming building to be holding one of the most famous masterpieces of all time.  

I wasn't really sure what I would think of the David. There is the usual naked man opinions and others mentioned walking into the space where it stands alone and feeling a sense of reverence and awe.

Well, I'll tell you (because you know my opinion is the one that matters:) I fell a little bit in between.  Or maybe started at one end of the spectrum and ended up at the other.  I mean he is a naked man and that means man parts that aren't covered.  But the longer I looked the more I noticed the details-the tendons in his ankles, the veins in his hand, the hair, ears, neck, the smoothness of the stone.  It was a stunning piece of work!  And after walking down a hall lined with other statues, some complete and some not, I really got a sense of how amazing it is that Michelangelo could chisel that out of one big block of stone.  And with all that detail that he must have had in his bead before he started since you can't really carve out that kind of detail on a whim. 

Naked or not you gotta respect that kind of talent.  (And walking around a few other rooms there at the Academia and I could only conclude that Michelangelo was capable of so much more than other artists and sculptors of his day.)

We were now on the far side of Florence from our hotel and ready to head back.  We caught a bus (23 again, I think!) and found out it was going in the opposite direction.  We rode it all the way out and then it finally made its way back towards our hotel.  It was ok.  We saw some more and weren't walking:)  

Never fear.  We stopped for gelato that day too.

But the best was our dinner that night.  We selected a place we had seen at the beginning of our day.  I think I got a calzone and it was good.  But my one little taste of Elise's pesto almost had me dishing out more $$ for some of that!  Wow!  

We walked back to our hotel and got ready so we could head out in the morning. 

Destination: Rome