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. 

 

 

 

 

A Day in Venice

 

Santa Lucia train station in Venice

The train experience (we went basic 2nd class) was nicer than I expected. The train was air conditioned (if anything we got cold) and the seats were comfortable. They had assigned seating and it was easy enough to find your assigned carriage and seat, once we figured out what all the signs meant. We left Florence a bit late and arrived in Venice just before noon.

Next we had to stand in line for Vaporatti tickets (the public water buses). The line looked long, but it moved okay and before too long we had four 12 hour passes so we could ride however much we wanted.

Classic Venice

A Vaporatti boat

Doge's Palace on the Grand Canal--look at all the people on the shore

More Grand Canal sites

The downside to the water buses versus a rented
gondola is that you can't go down the small side
canals like the gondolas do.

We spent most of our day in Venice on those boats. At first we were trapped inside-- too many people so we couldn't snag the few outdoor seats, but once we passed the major sites on the grand canal enough people got off that we were able to move to the open-air back. That was fun. That was also the point where you leave the canal and are going around the edge of the island, so they go faster.

One of the large churches in Venice

A church on an outlying island



It was fun to feel the breeze and watch all the other boats. We were having so much fun that we stayed on all the way out to the island of Lido. We got off there and found a gelato stand and had some yummy cones. Then we hopped the next boat headed back to the main island.

Who exactly can afford a yacht this size?  The boats around it
are big.  This one was just insane.

So many pretty bridges

The boats came in lots of different sizes and configurations. This one didn't have as many outdoor seats, so instead we were up in the inside of the front. This route ran along the outside edge of the main island and you could see other smaller islands out in the distance. The sky was looking darker and darker and then the rain came. It poured--even some lightning and hail. The water was pretty wavy and people getting on and off at stops got soaked. We no longer felt bad about our indoor seats. The storm was actually quite fun. 

Here comes the rain!

Some good waves on the water bus

Once the rain calmed to a drizzle, we moved to the outdoor seats in the back that everyone had abandoned. That was great . There were only four seats back there so we had it all to ourselves and had a great time as we cruised around the island. Gradually the clouds cleared and the sun came out again.

Sailing under a bridge

 

Another water bus (vaporatti) is ahead on the right

 

Check out the cool statue on the bank

Around 3:30, we got off at San Marco Square. We had afternoon tickets for the Doge's Palace (costs less after 3 pm). We had bought them in advance to avoid what can be terrible lines, but surprisingly there weren't too many people around. That was great in the buildings because we were spared the Louvre/Versaille packed in a crowd feeling. We were able to roam freely and comfortably except for a few times that we collided with dreaded tour groups.  We were glad there weren't too many people because it was quite warm in the buildings as it was. With a crowd it would have been miserable. We wandered through all the apartments and assembly rooms in the castle. Crazily ornate of course.  They had beautiful chandeliers. We also went through the armory and the prisons . My boy loved the armory-- case after case of swords, knight armor, shields, arrows, etc. All very ornate as well as functional. We were thinking of how our society doesn't do that anymore. You don't have beautiful decorations all over an AK-47. Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed inside the palace. I hate it when they do that. We did get a few shots out in the courtyard.

The Bridge of Sighs leading to the dungeons of the palace



An old gondola in the palace courtyard

   

Staircase in the courtyard

 



So strange to be in a building, glance out a door, and see this.



After seeing the palace, we wandered through the surrounding streets on foot for a while. We checked out the outside of Saint Mark's cathedral but skipped the huge line to go inside. 

San Marco Square.  Notice the flying lions on the far building.
It is a symbol of St. Mark and became a symbol of Venice when
they adopted Mark as their patron saint.

St. Mark's Cathedral

The tourist shops were more fun in Venice then anywhere we've been. I think because the two most common souveniers there were Carnival masks and glass from the glassworks on Murano. Both of those categories include a huge variety of beautiful, colorful objects so it was quite fun to window shop. 

 

An amazing of the incredible, colorful glass work



 

An ATM in the wall of an old church--
Funny mix of old and new

Tight spaces

 And Venice really is unlike anywhere we've seen. It is just so unreal seeing the water lapping at the doorsteps and to walk down a little alleyway and run into a little canal. We walked back as far as the Riolto Bridge and then hopped the boat again back to the train station. We took the 6:30 pm train back to Florence, getting back to our hotel around 8:30 or 9. It was a really nice day. 







 

The Rialto Bridge--there were stores all along it

A unique street vendor