The rain - oh, the rain. It followed us all the way to Florence. Florence, Rifredi station, to be exact. In all the guidebooks, the advice was always, "Florence has one train station - don't worry about booking your trips there." Our trip from Venice ended in Rifredi, and we walked outside looking for where our directions to our hotel started. There were no landmarks, and we quickly ventured back in, out of the rain, to determine what the issue was.
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| Inside the train station, these were the only exits...neither of them were what we were looking for. |
In retrospect, it was simple enough - our train station, the end point of the Venice journey, was not Venice Santa Maria station. As James waited in line, he saw at least 10 people with the same problem - who each had to purchase the 1.2 Euro ticket to the "right" station. Once we made it onto the very late transfering train (with Erin and James sprinting down the platform to find an open train compartment), we stood transfixed as the train lumbered south to the correct station.
Once we disembarked in Santa Maria, we were again confronted with our now constant nemesis, the Italian rain. The Piazza della Statione was soaked, with the cobblestones leaching sand and silt in a swirling, grey-tinged mess. We gingerly picked our way across the plaza and past the Basilia di Santa maria Novella on our way to the Hotel Paris, our home for the next two nights. Erin quickly took over the navigation, as James's Kindle was getting too wet, and we rolled in to a room with 17-foot-high ceilings and a restful evening.
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| The Hotel Paris in Florence. It was a perfect escape from the rain. |
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| Yes, our hotel room even had a bidet. Italy loves the bidets. |
We woke to our hotel's complimentary breakfast, and then set our goal for today - at least 20,000 steps, and a tour of the entire city. While Erin's handheld forecast predicted still more rain (and continued to do so the entire day), the sky was blue, flecked with clouds, and the weather was perfect. Our first foray into the city took us directly to Florence's Duomo, officially the Cathedral of Saint Mary of Fiore (Santa Maria del Fiore), an awe-inspiring church bedecked with many different hues of marble, looming over the Piazza de San Giovanni. The red, green and white marble facade is a 19th century replacement of an unfinished original, but the church itself was started in 1294 and finished in 1436. Tabitha was likewise inspired, and posed for one of her Florence pictures:
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| Erin and James standing in front of the Santa Maria del Fiore (or the Duomo). |
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| Pictures don't do justice to how large and intricately-detailed the Duomo really is. |
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| Tabitha and the towering Duomo. |
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| We tried taking a picture of ourselves in front of the Campanile di Giotto (or Giotto's bell tower), but it didn't work out too well. BTW Erin hates James's attempt at a beard. |
From the Duomo, we walked north to the Piazza de Sen Marco, visiting the Basilica della S.S. Annunziata, a wonderfully preserved, (also) ancient church with an interior bedecked with gold:
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| Gaze upon the altar and its ornate splendor. |
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| Even the embellished gold ceiling was striking to look at. |
Our next walk took us west, through the Piazza della Indipendenza (park of independence) on our way to the Fortezza da Basso, an original fortress for the defense of Florence. Now used primarily as an exibition hall, it still guards a large park with a fountain-filled pool perfect for a summer - or fall - day:
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| The park around the Fortress - we were lucky enough to view it on a beautiful fall day. |
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| The Fortress! Ok, while it may not look like much, it was quite expansive. |
South again, past to the Palazzo del Congressi, we walked to Florence's central market and past the Cappelle de Medicee. This area was filled with small shops for leather and other tourist goods, while the market itself sold mainly food and grocery items, albeit with some specialities in mind (including bruschetta, and many, many kinds of pasta):
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| All the pasta you could possibly imagine! |
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| Look at all of the garlic hanging and then imagine a plate of pasta! |
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| Fresh olives! Yum!!... If that's your thing. It's not Erin's. It is James's. |
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| We didn't buy anything, but we thought this was at least a bit creative. Clearly, they were targeting egotistical, English-speakers. |
Once again passing the Duomo, we walked south on the Via del Calzaiuoli to the Piazza della Signoria, home of the Palazzo Vecchio and the Galleria degli Uffizi, which house some of Florence's artistic treasures. Called by some the "world's greatest collection of Renaissance art," the Uffizi Gallery houses work by Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Titian. Unfortunately, they don't allow pictures. But, the Piazza della Dignoria does - and it was here that we got our photos with Michaelangelo's "David" - in the spot where the statute stood for centuries in Florence:
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| The clocktower in the center of the Piazza del Signoria keeping "watch" over the city. Ha ha! |
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| Tabitha found a way to censor Michaelangelo's "David." |
After we left the Piazza and the Uffizi, we headed to the 14th century Ponte Vecchio - a bridge that spans the Arno river (Fiume Arno), a bridge that is covered with stores devoted to one calling - gold jewlery:
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| James smiles, with the Ponte Vecchio stretching across the river in the background. |
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| Erin and James actually standing on the Ponte Vecchio. |
James hurried Erin across the bridge on our way to the Palazzo Pitti, a 15th century palace that is now home to four museums and borders extensive gardens. We made a loop through Pitti's plaza and walked along the Arno, crossing again at the Ponte alle Grazie on our way to the Piazza Santa Croce to see another of Florence's Basilicas. After Santa Croce, James navigated to the Piazza S.M. Nuova, and the Piazza Brunellschi. As it was getting late, there was one final stop in Florence - Florence's Central Park, and another bridge across the Arno. We made it as it started getting dark, and took some photos to memoralize the final chapter of our Florence day:
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| There are plenty of beautiful churches to see in Florence! |
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| A view from the bridge, peering out into the mountains outside of Florence. |
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| A view of the gardens we had hoped to explore, until we realized it cost 10 Euro - per-person-to see them up close. They looked pretty good from here. |
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| Florence at night - we couldn't have asked for a better day or night! |
Once complete, we headed back to the hotel, to use the 8 Euro (!) wireless to finish up some work and update the blog, and dreamed of our next stops: Rome, our final stop in Europe (this trip) and then Cairo, Egypt.
