Florence

Duomo

Florence: the birth place of the Renaissance.

We arrived on the fast train from Venice to a bustling city. We enjoyed the quiet and pedestrian friendly "streets" of Venice but Florence had cars and motorbikes to contend with. However, there is tons to see and all within a condensed area.

Our first stop was to see Michelangelo's David and Prisoners. It did not disappoint. He stands majestically under a huge dome in all his glory. The precise detail of the anatomy is amazing. The more sculptures we saw, the more we really appreciated the perfection and realism of the David. No pictures were allowed, as in many museums we attended.

The Duomo is a ridiculously large cathedral exploding out of the center of the city. The pink and green marble, along with the incredibly ornate architecture, makes this cathedral quite a sight. It is so much bigger than it's surroundings. The pictures hardly do it justice. To the right of the cathedral is the bell tower and directly in front is the baptistry. The dome is the most impressive, towering over the city. The cathedral was built with a big hole, with the hope that a dome of that size could one day be built. And it remained the largest dome in the world until St. Peter's was built.

The front of the Duomo: bell tower to right, baptistry to left.

Back of Baptistry, with view of dome.

Ponte Vecchio bridge over the Arno River: the only bridge to survive WWII in Florence.

Side view of shops hanging off the side of the bridge. They used to be butcher shops since they could throw the scraps into the river.

Front of Duomo with ornate detail: bronze doors, statues, curly cues, and doo dads.

Inside of the Duomo cathedral with beautiful marble floors.

Patrick climbed the dome and got this view of the bell tower from the top.

The bronze baptistry doors.

Closer look at the doors.

Even closer look at one of the panels. The 3D detail was impressive.

The view of the Duomo rounding the corner.

The courtyard of the Medici palace.

The palazzo outside the palace. The Medici statue gallery including original famous sculptures and the original home of the David. A replica stands in its place (statue to the left of entrance into palace...under that blue sign very left of pic).

The Rape of the Sabine Women sculpture.

The outside of the Uffizi gallery. Inside we saw famous Botticelli and Da Vinci paintings.

Photos not allowed.

Courtyard of the Bargello Sculpture museum, containing many Michelangelo sculptures.

Part of a fountain sculpture.

We hiked up to Michelangelo square for an incredible view. The Arno River with the Ponte Vecchio bridge, the Duomo, and tower of the Medici palace.

The grandness of the Duomo compared to the rest of Florence.

The beautiful Tuscan hills on the other side of the Arno.

We also went to the Medici Chapels, which houses the tombs of the prominent Medici family members. This was an incredible sight. The chapel was an octagon made out of all different colors of marble in numerous mosaics. The most famous part of the chapels are the four tombs sculpted by Michelangelo. Patrick wanted to see every work my Michelangelo available, and these were among the best.