Florence in Two Days

Our Easter Octave vacation was fantastic! Florence was such a gem and I'm so glad we got to stay there for a few days.

I knew we were going to have a lot of pictures in front of churches, so I figured I'd spice it up a bit. Stella is hiding her face in shame. I guess it's only right. This is the Duomo in Florence: Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore. I'm quite fond of the stripes look in churches.

Real live model pose

Whew. That one church took it out of us. Time for a break at a 1950's diner. I fell in love with onion rings all over again.

Can't go wrong with curly fries!

The waiters were even zooming around on skates.

Finally, a Stella-approved meal.

Bashful baby

I found it fascinating that they had 3 Utah liscense plates on the way to the bathroom. Yes I had to put that in there. Home state!

Okay, back to church pictures.

Yes, this going to be random. Here's a door. I liked the carvings quite a lot. I think this was the door to the Duomo.

I love the detail here too. I need a couple of these in our house in our chapel with our favorite saints.

Gold trim makes everything better, no?

I loved the geometrical patterns on the floor, it gave a real feeling of depth. This was just one of several different designs all over the floor.

You couldn't actually walk all the way into the church unfortunately, but honestly there wasn't much to see. Not many frescos or windows of note. I think the floors and the exterior were my favorite.

A quick shot of the ceiling and it's lovely depiction of hell.

An idea about the stained glass windows...

and a clock of some sort. It had roman numerals from 1 to 24, so don't really know what that's about.

More door details.

"What knockers!"

In one of the big piazza's we gave the girl a treat of riding a merry-go-round.

Then we were off exploring more of the city. Here we came across a statue in the rose garden near Piazza Michelangelo.

Took in the views of the city...

The dome on the right side is the Duomo that we had visited that morning.

Everybody got a shot in front of the city for posterity's sake. This one is actually from Piazza Michelangelo.

Here's Ponte Vecchio (the Old Bridge). It is an old medieval bridge that is home to jewelry shops that have been there since they kicked out the butcher's shops for all there gross stuff they were throwing into the river. (more on that later...)

More pictures. No comments.

My new favorite car. And I thought the mini cooper was tight.

It seems just the right size for Emma though.

An antique shop from the 14 to 16th century.

My favorite piece. Look at that inlay! It's so beautiful!

Here is a modern statue just to really just remind you how much of a joke they are to the real beauties.

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Here we are walking over Ponte Vecchio admiring all the jewelry we could never buy.

Passing a sad clown.

A crazy taxi.

Hippies playing steel drums things.

More Dante...

...so angry!

So just a warning, I went a little crazy inside this church. It's Santa Croce and it's chock full of Giotto frescos and some crazy altar pieces. So I'll just step back and let you flick through them. See you at the end.

Leon insisted on getting the ceiling detail for our own house.
(Take note, Paul and Seamus.)

Grave stone. I want one.

Whew! Time to run in the piazza. I'm really going to miss the Piazza life when we leave. What a great place to bask in the sun and the amazing architecture around you.

Just a little sidewalk chalk. 

Mmmm. Italian tavern food to come!

The campanille (bell tower) of the Duomo.

More walking, walking, walking, walking .....and "home"!

Note Dieter staking out his prey: the picture on the wall.
One step up and...

Orsanmichelle the next morning. We had just a few hours before our train to Venice, and we were able to sneak in a bunch of hidden gems. Just look at that altar!

Here's an upclose shot of the altar piece. In the background you can see the mosaic work a little bit. It was so reflective and I'm sure quite dazzling in the sunlight.

We really loved the feel of Florence. It's funny how all of these big cities can feel very small town in comparison with Rome. I hope that we will get a chance to go back again, if only to get an authentic Florentine leather jacket. ;)