Layover in Florence (Sun July 22)

Today we headed out again, riding the water bus to the train station and catching the high speed train to Florence.  Two thumbs up to the high-speed Italian rail system (Frecciarossa and Frecciargento).  It is clean, fast, reasonably on-time, and they assign everyone a seat, all at a reasonable price.  Plus there's free Wifi whenever the train is in motion.  Bravisimo!  

The train ride to Florence was a mere 2h10min.  Barely enough time to run down the battery on your gizmo, except they have 220V outlets at each seat, so you can't!   Whipping along at 140-170 MPH is awesome, especially when you're not the one driving.

We reached Florence around 10:45 AM and checked our luggage at the train station (very reasonable price and convenient) and then met our tour guide.

Davis next to all our worldly possessions for the month of July.  Traveling light has been great.  When you see the giant pieces of luggage some people lug through the transit system, it makes you just shake your head and say Mama Mia! 

 

Paulo, our tour guide.  She was great.  She and two other ladies are all High School Art History teachers during the school year and tour guides in the summer.  She was good with the boys and seems like the kind of High School teacher that everybody likes.

 

Paulo took us around the big sites:  Ponte Vecchio Bridge, Piazza della Signoria, the Duomo, and the Accademia Gallery.  We spent a couple of hours with her and then explored some more on our own after lunch.

 

On the Bridge, Overlooking the Arno River.

 

The famous Piazza della Signoria.  It looks the same as it did before Columbus sailed to the New World.  And in great shape too.   

 A copy of Michelangelo's David, on the left (the original was moved inside to the Accademia after 300 years), and Hercules on the right, symbol of the Medici family.  Here Hercules is meant to send a not so subtle, "you better listen to us" message.  The Medici's--Italy's first mob family, but with great taste in art.

Close-up of the copy of David.

We went to the Accademia and saw the real David.  Fantastic!  No pictures were allowed inside (this one of Logan with a bust of Michelangelo was obtained surreptitiously).

Florence has a lot of David knock-offs.  This is "Contemporary Art."  (For Scott's detailed assessment regarding his opinion of Modern Art, please see the post from the visit to the Tate Modern, London, July 4.)  In addition to mini-David statues, you can even buy anatomically correct "David" shorts--these were not included in the boys' souvenir purchases!

The Duomo.  The Baptistry, a separate building, is on the Left.  In many of these old churches the baptistry is outside because you couldn't even enter the Church until you were baptized.   

 The Bell Tower.  The church and the Bell Tower are from 1200-1300 AD and rock-solid.  What a fantastic bit of construction and engineering. You can't see any evidence of foundation shift, cracking, sagging.  Amazing.  Makes the Tower of London look like a hunk of junk. 

The Dome.  A "late addition"….from the 1500s

The "Gates of Paradise" outside the Baptistry.  Bronze with Gold Leaf.  27 years to complete (the Church took 150 years, so put it in perspective).

 

 

Inside the Duomo

Painting inside the dome.

 

Clock at the back of the auditorium.  Apparently preachers could be long-winded even in the Middle Ages.  This is one of the first clocks (ever), and was a 24 hour model, hour hand only, that runs backwards (at least to us). 

 

Scott, Logan, and Davis climbed the 421 steps to the top of the bell tower.

View from the top.

 

Florence seems to have a lot of what we have seen elsewhere in Europe: 

…relatively narrow cobblestone streets with lots of pedestrians, 

…an invasion of American brand names

…little bitty police cars

….teeny weenie cars that we would mistake for a go-cart.

…and really good Italian food

…this must be the seventh cheese pizza the boys have eaten.  Exactly how long do you think you can you live on cheese pizza ?

 

We successfully made it back to the station, retrieved our luggage and made it with plenty of time to catch the 6pm train to Rome, which took all of 1h 30 min.   We got settled in at our hotel, went out for dinner at a local joint (this time the boys got pizza with pepperoni) and headed to bed. 

 

Killing time at the Florence train station.

At dinner…someone put those tired boys to bed!

Another busy day tomorrow as we conquer….the Vatican!   Ciao!