Italy 2014 - Florence

Note:  Though this might or might not be of interest to others, I'm documenting this trip because I want to remember it, which gets harder as the years go by.   Clicking the title line to view a slideshow or the pictures for a larger version of the photos.

Part 2 - Florence

Eva had what seemed to be food poisoning.  Think she might have picked it up from a mushroom dish - last dinner in Venice.  She was a bit "green around the gills" on the train and whatever it was hit her hard at lunch.  We tried to go on the tour to see "The David" but had to drop out after a couple of blocks.  She spent the afternoon in the hotel and while she slept I explored a bit on my own and then found a grocery and picked up dinner - cheese and crackers.

Duomo and The Dome:

Eva was still rocky the next morning so I attended the presentation by an art historian (from Milwaukee, Wi. no less) and then again headed out on my own.

Stood in line at the Duomo for an hour.  Expected to be able to look around when I got in but nooo,  Once inside the door, there was no way to go but up the stairs.  So up I went.

1st balcony:  Plexiglas about 8 feet high prevented me from getting good photos (and kept me from jumping / falling) but the view was pretty impressive as well as dizzying.

2nd balcony:
A similar arrangement but now I'm even more winded from the climb and rather light headed.

Cupola:
OK, made it. 

But where's the protective Plexiglas and is that iron railing like about 4 feet high?  So I'm thinking "what the hell am I doing?

I don't even dare to get on the roof to clean the gutters anymore."

But still, quite the views.  

I Cautiously walked around cupola taking pictures and headed back down.

Duomo and The Baptistry:

Eva felt a bit better by noon so we decided to explore just a little bit.  The Duomo and Baptistry were only two blocks from our hotel so that was the goal for the day.

The exterior of the Baptistry was under construction.  A small disappointment but the interior soon made that irrelevant.  Eva and I had recently read The Inferno by Dan Brown which made the Duomo,  Ponte Vecchio Bridge (Vasari's Corridor), and other sites in Florence all the more interesting.

We visited the church of the Duomo next.  Quite impressive and the view of the dome from the floor made my earlier trek to the top even more special.

That was about all that Eva could handle for the day so we had a late lunch / early supper at The Hard Rock (comfort food for a tender stomach) and of course we had to pick up a shooter to add to Eva's collection.  (Forgot to mention that we also found a Hard Rock in Venice at the foot of the Rialto Bridge.  Getting quite a worldwide collection of those shooters.)

City Hall:

The next morning we took off with the tour group to visit the Uffizi gallery.  The city hall of Florence is right next door with statuary out front.  So although we missed "The David" (the original statue) there was a pretty good copy outside the front door of city hall along with some other impressive statues.

Uffizi Museum:

Are all buildings in Italy huge?  Seems so and the Uffizi Museum was no exception.  Not only big but such high ceilings; four flights of stairs to get to the second floor.  So Eva (and I) were winded before the start of the tour.  And the crowds early on a Sunday morning made it pretty difficult to enjoy a leisurely walk through the museum.

Patience!  The building and art were impressive and worth the crush of people. 

 Really, did we expect to be alone?  The hallway below indicates that we were but of course the artwork wasn't in the hall.

Ponte Vecchio Bridge (Vasari's Corridor):

The "gold bridge" was an experience.  There was a marathon going on and part of the route was across the bridge so we were in the middle of a crowd of tourists like us and the runners / walkers / dogs / etc.  That was OK as we were not planning to buy gold and besides we were advised that the shops on the bridge might appear to have decent prices but the gold is often 18 karat rather than the preferred 24 karat.  Still it was exciting being on the bridge and under the corridor (again, the Robert Langdon connection).

Pitti Palace:

Wasn't hard to find this place on the other side of the bridge - again with the massive structures.

Stood in line for tickets and bought the "full boat" to insure that we saw it all.  Flights of steps and room after room of beautiful artwork but must admit that after awhile it all becomes a fog.

Disappointed:

Really interested in seeing the gardens that we had glimpsed through a window but after touring the palace and asking how to get to the gardens, we were advised that they were closed to visitors due to downed trees and damage from a hail storm the went through the previous week.  Would have been nice to know before we bought the full price tickets.  Found later that our tour guide had advised during one of the sessions we missed while Eva was recuperating that the gardens were closed.  Oh well, on to Rome.