Unfortunately many places in Florence don't allow photography inside, so no pictures of the famous David or other incredible art in the Accademia. I didn't realize the David was such a big sculture! Sculpted by Michelangelo in the early 1500s, it stands 17 feet tall. Pictures you may have seen don't do it justice - it's pretty incredible in person. Michelangelo was a talented dude. We also enjoyed the paintings and frescoes that had really ornate, 3D frames or interesting shapes.
Next up we walked to the Duomo (huge - really huge church). Pictures don't show its size - it's too big for a camera to capture.
Our first order of business was to get in line to climb to the top of the dome. That probably goes without saying, as you have likely figured out by now that we pretty much climbed everything we could in Europe : ) It was really cool though - part way up the stairs we got to go on a little ledge around the inside of the dome. Neat to see the painted ceiling (kind of like the Sistine Chapel) up close, and also to look down into the church from that high up.
 |
| Looking up to the painted ceiling/dome... |
 |
| ...and down into the church. |
Then we kept going, up very narrow, windy stairs to the top of the dome and went outside for great views of the city. It was getting pretty cloudy at that point, but we enjoyed the views from up top.
 |
| The fun climb up! |
Going back down was a tad bit tricky because it's the same narrow set of stairs for both directions...but we did make it down and out...and into rain. So we bought two umbrellas off a street vendor and went in to the Baptistry. Which has a phenomenal mosaic dome ceiling. We sat and stared up at it until our necks hurt!
It was mostly just drizzling when we exited the Baptistry, so we snapped a few shots of the very cool doors, then headed to the Orsanmichal Church.
 |
| Part of the Baptistry's doors. |
We weren't supposed to take pictures inside the church, which we found out as this one was shot...thus it being crooked and the only one...
After visiting the church, we headed back to our hotel to get jackets, then hit the San Lorenzo Market. It was fun - a vast area filled with leather and souvenir stalls, scarfs, masks, and all other kinds of fabulous treasures. We enjoyed the festive atmosphere and browsing through various stalls, then found a fantastic place for dinner where Bryan had "the best pizza of his life!"
 |
| The gelato shops were enticing! |
 |
| A small reproduction of the David in a courtyard. |
 |
| Pillar in the Palazzo Vecchio courtyard |
 |
| Palazzo Vecchio |
 |
| Inside the restaurant |
It finally stopped raining, so after dinner we walked over to Ponte Vecchio, the old bridge spanning the "old" and "new" town. We also passed by the Duomo again on our way back to the hotel, and took a few night pictures.
Despite the gray and rain, we had a fabulous day and really enjoyed our brief time in Florence!
No comments:
Post a Comment