Our first glimpses at Florence.
My fellow photographers, Rachel and Mike.
When we entered the square, we saw a parade - complete with flag throwers! So cool!
After a little bit of shopping, we went out for a delicious pizza dinner. I'd been waiting for Italian pizza and wasn't at all disappointed. Once back at the hotel, we stayed up past midnight with some crazy Coloradans and played 5 Kings. We tried to play until the kings went wild, but we just couldn't make it. I've never laughed so hard while trying to be quiet! We had a blast.
The next morning, we met another tour guide for a tour. Our first stop was Ponte Vecchio, one of the oldest bridges in Europe. It used to have butcher shops all along it, but someone thought they smelled badly and now the bridge is home to nothing but fine jewelry!
Benvenuto Cellini, a famous goldsmith and sculptor.
We walked through Florence and LOVED looking at all the street vendors and shop windows.
Apparently Mom's name is popular in Europe.
The man who lived in the Palazzo Vecchio used to ride his horse from the town hall to the larger castle he'd built for his wife.
Palazzo Vecchio
Armani owns this apartment on the Ponte Vecchio.
A few important faces of the Uffizi gallery.
The ancient center of the city.
The Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore or the Duomo...began the gothic style.
Giottos' Bell Tower
The doors of the Baptistry.
Inside the Duomo.
Dante, the Father of the Italian language...
If you poured water onto the street, Dante's profile would appear.
We toured a leather workshop!
The demonstrated how to make leather boxes and bookmarks, and told us how to distinguish between feaux and real leather.
This is the owner. He was so wonderful to talk to. We sat in his shop for over an hour and listened to the stories of a genuine Italian man. He was full of phrases like "mama-mia" and totally cracked us up. Daniel ended up purchasing a custom, hand made Italian leather jacket. We'll have to post pictures of him wearing it once it cools down around here.
While part of the group went on a day trip to Sienna, we toured Santa Croce. This church is amazing because so many illustrious Italians are buried within it. What sold me was that we were told pieces of the original cross that Christ was crucified on lie within the tombs of the church. They are only on public display on day out of the entire year. It just so happened, we weren't visiting on that particular day.
Santa Croce
Cleaning/restoration of the columns on part of Santa Croce.
Tomb of Caponi...I love the woman with the wreath of flowers.
Tomb of Gallileo
Tomb of Michaelangelo
Michaelangelo, the painter, scultper and poet.
Tomb of Gioachino Rossini
Tomb of Davinci
Cenotaph of Dante
Many, many, many more people are buried in the floor of the church. We were walking on several hundred year old tombs.
Details of the inside of Santa Croce...
There is a ton of restoration taking place.
I went inside a little prayer room and the ceiling was so awesome that I had to snap one picture!
This was my favorite statue. She is The Florentine, and represents The Liberty of Poetry. Her American cousin is The Statue of Liberty or Liberty Enlightening the World. BEAUTIFUL!
A look back at Santa Croce
Following our tour of the Santa Croce, we ate lunch at the BEST pizza place.
The best, and only true Margherita pizza I had in Italy! LOVED IT.
We had about 8 hours of free time and shopped till we dropped. It was a great day!
It wasn't long until we need gelato...oh, how I love gelato.
Daniel didn't stray from his first love, mint chocolate chip. I had to try a new flavor each time!
I LOVE this picture of us...cracks me up!
This place sold super cheap coca cola. Yay! If I hadn't been so full, I would have splurged for some delicious looking fruit!
Walking around Florence...I need to find some cool S's.
Daniel loved that these older men were out on the river.
I love this image!
S. Elizabeth = )
We ended our day back at the Palazzo Vecchio and Piazza della Signoria. The statues here are amazing.
Cellini's work of Perseus holding Medusa's head. It is said that the sculptor made his girlfriend's face the face of Medusa. Creepy!
Rape of the Sabine woman
Menelaus supporting the body of Patroclus
The Rape of Polyxena
Hercules beating the centaur Nessus
At the right side of the entrance to the Palazzo is Hercules and Cacus by Baccio Bandinelli.
I have to admit that while sitting and staring at all the statues, some of the Denver kiddos and I saw a few bad angles...
Immature, I know...but we laughed hard and had fun.
Fountain of Neptune
Cosimo I de Medici
A copy of Michaelangelo's The David stands in front of Pelazzo Vecchio. It's really incredible. Michaelangelo studied anatomy for two years. If you stand closely, you can see veins in the stone!
And, there are our friends...returning from Sienna.
We loved Florence!
Excited about traveling to France tomorrow!
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