Florence Part 2

Italy blog #8? Click on the pictures to enlarge them

So this shall be the conclusion of the Italian series of my blog. Can I get to at least 46 posts by the end of the year? It would essentially be one for every week I've been here (including the side trips taken to the States). Well, this entry will make it #46, so if I can find something to write about for another 6 entries, I will have 52 entries for the year. Lets hope I can be so ambitious and creative.

Our last true day in Italy was more or less a free day. We wanted to see the Duomo, and maybe the Pitti Palace (which ended up being closed- darn it). Our morning ended up being slow, we had to print our boarding pass and go through check out so we wouldn't have to worry about it the next morning. Once we were finally out the door, we headed straight to the Duomo. We wanted to climb it first thing, but there was sign stating a delay. We were lucky enough though during this time to see yet another Christmas tree being put up in front of the Duomo.

After about a minute of admiring the tree, we decided to check out the inside of the cathedral and some of the other places. The exterior of the Duomo is a green color, and the pillars inside are striped black and a greeny white colored. looking up at the dome, you see scenes from 'hell' and it works it's way up the levels to heaven.

Baptistry

the front of the Duomo

 

Floor inside the Duomo

After walking around the cathedral we went below it to the Santa Repara, which had a lot of the old mosaics on display, and the tops of old tombs. After that short jaunt, we headed to the baptistry, one of the oldest buildings in Florence, which was eclipsed by the one in Parma. The cool thing on the baptistry is the doors, which have been described in art history books (if you're interested in reading up about them). The doors had multiple biblical scenes in them and were called by Michelangelo the 'Gates to Paradise'. We later got a close up view in the Museo dell' Opera del Duomo late in the day.

Gates to Paradise

A close up

In the square, some of the old frescoes

Interior floors of the baptistry

Interior floors of the baptistry

Interior floors of the baptistry

Interior floors of the baptistry

Interior floors of the baptistry

Interior floors of the baptistry

Interior floors of the baptistry

We still had some time to kill before we could go up the Cupola, so of course we had to get more gelato. We went back to the Piazza della Signoria for those. Usually restaurants by major squares are hideously overprices for not so great food, but the gelato shop there is delicious. I think we went there 3 or 5 times.

Now to the good part- the Cupola/ dome, whatever you want to call it. It was a total of 450 or steps up and down, but the way it was staggered wasn't too bad. It was worth it going up. We were within the first 20 going up, and I was really glad at the end that we were, because on the way down you have to pass by the people going up on narrow stairs for a bit. At the top it was very windy, but it was a beautiful view of the city. While up there, a US couple was telling us of a Christmas market at Piazza Santa Croce, so we decided we would check it out when we got down from the dome. On the way down, a few of us stopped for a moment because there were stairs going down the dome (it was a steep curve), and no one wanted to be the first one to climb down that part. I myself was grateful someone else went first, when someone is in front of me, it breaks up the field of view so I am less likely to trip or something.

Interior dome close up shot

Down at the bottom we walked to the Italian Christmas market which was more like an international Christmas market, because many European countries were represented, from Lithuania, Germany, Poland, etc. The food was primarily German in origin, bratwurst etc. We thought about eating there, but there were no WC's nearby, which sucked. We had ended up having lunch at Osteria De Benci. Again, nothing spectacular, but there was a WC inside. After lunch we walked around the market some more and ended up walking to the Pitti Palace, which we found out was closed that day. Oh well.

Italian Christmas market

On Ponte Vecchio

On Ponte Vecchio

Palazzo Vecchio

We ended up going back across the bridge, and I looked at some leather jackets, although none we so pretty that I had to pay hundreds of Euros for it. We then went to the museum for the Duomo and saw the doors to the baptistry up close and personal. The craftsmanship that went into them was incredible. The restoration process of the panels took years. We also saw Michelangelo's Florence Pieta, which was also a masterful piece of art, but I think I like David more.

Michelangelo's Florence Pieta

Michelangelo's Florence Pieta (backside)

Of course we couldn't leave Italy without getting something made with Italian leather.... so we got a few purses.... AKA, I got one, Brie bought one, and I got her one as a gift, one for every occasion.

We had our final Italian dinner at Trattoria Tiberio which was fairly close to our B&B (http://www.trattoriatiberio.it/). I had a Pecorino cheese appetizer which came with rocket and truffle honey. Brie had Salame Toscano and we had the house red wine. I had pasta with artichokes in it, and Brie had ravioli with meat sauce Maremma Chianina. We semi-split some tiramisu for dessert. It was a nice end to Florence. The last 'fun' thing we had to do that night was pack our stuff. It was an amazing game of how much weight can we shift here and there. We kept our fingers crossed that our bags would be just under weight, and luckily enough we were. It's a good thing we went to Germany next and used my apartment as home base. I'm taking back a 2nd suitcase this time to accommodate all the things Brie and I bought!

Next up, the German Christmas market blog series.