Florence

Sunday morning, we slept in a bit and then enjoyed breakfast at the hotel again. We'd thought about trying to go to church, but the meetinghouse was a ways out of town and I wasn't very confident in the times listed on the web for meetings. We spent the day just walking around Florence. We walked to the Duomo first. We were amazed at the size and beauty of that place. The pictures just don't capture how impressive it is. We walked all around it.



Approaching Il Duomo,
 The Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore

The intracacy of all the marble decorations was amazing



Giotto's Campanile (Bell Tower)

One interesting thing, as we were on the back side a group of priests came hurrying along the road by us. The oldest was ornately dressed. Then there were two others in calmer robes and then a body guard. We wondered who they were but figured they must be important-- probably headed to preside over mass at either the baptistry or the duomo. Next we headed on to the square with all the statues. On the way there we could hear drums coming towards us. We were able to watch a procession go by. They had a number of groups in different medieval livery with trumpets and drums. The groups would take turns playing as they marched up the street. There was also one group with flags that they would throw high in the air-- they looked really cool twirling as they went up and down. The procession also included a bunch of priests and nuns and everyone had badges saying something about the society of the baptistry. We didn't know if this is a regular Sunday morning thing or a special occasion, but we enjoyed it.

Thanks to the Internet, I was able to research this procession and I learned that it was an annual celebration of the birthday of John the Baptist, the patron saint of Florence.  It has been celebrated as a holiday in Florence for hundreds of years.  The procession we saw includes the local church and government authorities and they march to the cathedral where they take place in a special ceremony presided over by the archbishop of the area. I'm guessing the archbishop is the priest that we saw. Fun that we happened to be in Florence on June 24th.

Wandering the streets of Florence

We wandered through the major city squares. Florence really is a beautiful city-- so many old, impressive buildings that are still used and well-maintained. Banks with a front of gorgeous Roman arches, stores set in lovely old buildings.  I think overall it is the prettiest city we've seen. We enjoyed just wandering up and down walkways and alleyways, wandering from cool looking tower to cool looking tower. 




Approaching Palazzo Vecchio, Florence's City Hall

Sculptures at Piazza della Signora.



More lions

Looking up towards Ponte Vecchio, the old bridge that has stood
on this site since 1345

We crossed the Arno river and climbed the hill up to Piazzola Michelangelo.  That was a bit of a hot climb but luckily you could usually find shade to walk in.  That Piazzola has a beautiful view of the whole city, unfornately it is also the car guy/motorcycle guy hangout for Florence for some reason-- a constant stream of vehicles going back and forth - same ones over and over-- so it was noisy and chaotic. 

So European!

We bought some gelatto and rested a minute then went on up higher to a beautiful church higher on the hill, Basilica di San Miniato al Monte. It also had a beautiful view and was much more peaceful. 

  

View of Florence

 

You can see a stretch of old city wall

We were able to peak around inside for a few minutes before mass started and it was beautiful inside as well.  The ceilings were colorful and frankly amazing. The green, white and red marble all over the inside and out were beautiful.

These stained glass windows looked like fire embers

Inside Basilica di San Miniato al Monte

When I think of Florence, I will always think of bells. With all the different churches, it seemed like you could always hear bells ringing. 

If you look close you can see a ringing bell protruding from the tower

By the time we walked back down off the hill (my son counted 189 steps plus a lot of just incline), we were hot and tired. In truth, we mostly enjoyed the hot, though. It has been so long since we've felt it.  We did eat a lot of ice cream though. I think the kids counted that we had gelatto seven times during our 3-day trip. We rested in a park for a bit and then headed back over the old bridge, Ponte Vecchio, to the city. That bridge is literally covered with fancy jewelry stores-- very sparkly. We went back past the Duomo to see if it was open for visiting yet. It wasn't and didn't seem like it actually ever would be that day. Oh well, we enjoyed getting a better look at the front of the building and at the beautiful brass doors of the baptistry. 


Front door of Il Duomo and another lion

The Baptistry of St.John with its famous doors

I realize there are many museums in Florence that we did not visit. We've found that our family is much happier exploring in the open air, away from the press of the crowds. Since we'd checked out of our hotel that morning, we all carried our backpacks around on this adventure. We were ready to put them down.  We went to the train station and and bought tickets for Pisa.