26 September, '05, Monday.
Catching the bus into Florence was easy, but understanding just where you were going on it was the challenge. We knew that it would take us to the trainstation (our destination), but the ride getting there was something else. We could have walked the distance in about 35 to 40 minutes, but it took the bus close to an hour and 15 minutes...talk about the long route... I know, I should just sit back and enjoy the ride, especially since it only cost one Euro...Finally arriving at the trainstation, we started our walking tour of the sights and sounds of Firenze (Florence). As you can see by the date on the top of this page, it is a Monday, and in Italy, there are a lot of sites that the "tourist" would like to see, but will just have to come back too. Most of the churches are open and a few of the museums as well, but those with the top draw items are closed. We did get into one church/convent that was only opened one Monday a month between 1 and 3 in the afternoon, and we just happened to walk up to the door on the right Monday and time. It was very plain compared to a lot of churches we have seen, but they did have quite a number of frescoes from the 13th century that we could enjoy. Over all we enjoyed 4 churches of different styles that were full of 13th to 17th century art by some of the outstanding masters of christian paintings. Then we stood in line for a short time to enter Florence's Gothic Santa Croce. Fortunately we were able to get handsets to give us all the information we might want as we walked throughout this cathedral. It has the tombs of some of the most recognized names in Italian history inside it's walls...like Galileo Galilei, Michelangelo Buonarroti, Dante, Machiavelli, Rossini and others... It was quite a walk through history. One of the sites we wanted to see was the Uffizi Gallery. This is the gallery where the original "David" is shown, but being a Monday...CLOSED !!! We did see a copy up by the campground. There is a large over-look next door to the campground that has the David copy standing tall and proad, so I took a picture to kind of keep in mind what we missed... It was another full day outing, and included a very good lunch break at the large "Farmers Market". This is a large permant structure that has had the market there since the 16th century. With the day finally coming to a close and we had walked our way through the "old town" and finally ending at the famous Ponte Vecchio Bridge. This bridge is the one where the lovers take their "locket key" to the center of the bridge and with a small ceremony, toss the key into the Arno River below indicating love for ever. Tomorrow...Cinque Terre
Catching the bus into Florence was easy, but understanding just where you were going on it was the challenge. We knew that it would take us to the trainstation (our destination), but the ride getting there was something else. We could have walked the distance in about 35 to 40 minutes, but it took the bus close to an hour and 15 minutes...talk about the long route... I know, I should just sit back and enjoy the ride, especially since it only cost one Euro...Finally arriving at the trainstation, we started our walking tour of the sights and sounds of Firenze (Florence). As you can see by the date on the top of this page, it is a Monday, and in Italy, there are a lot of sites that the "tourist" would like to see, but will just have to come back too. Most of the churches are open and a few of the museums as well, but those with the top draw items are closed. We did get into one church/convent that was only opened one Monday a month between 1 and 3 in the afternoon, and we just happened to walk up to the door on the right Monday and time. It was very plain compared to a lot of churches we have seen, but they did have quite a number of frescoes from the 13th century that we could enjoy. Over all we enjoyed 4 churches of different styles that were full of 13th to 17th century art by some of the outstanding masters of christian paintings. Then we stood in line for a short time to enter Florence's Gothic Santa Croce. Fortunately we were able to get handsets to give us all the information we might want as we walked throughout this cathedral. It has the tombs of some of the most recognized names in Italian history inside it's walls...like Galileo Galilei, Michelangelo Buonarroti, Dante, Machiavelli, Rossini and others... It was quite a walk through history. One of the sites we wanted to see was the Uffizi Gallery. This is the gallery where the original "David" is shown, but being a Monday...CLOSED !!! We did see a copy up by the campground. There is a large over-look next door to the campground that has the David copy standing tall and proad, so I took a picture to kind of keep in mind what we missed... It was another full day outing, and included a very good lunch break at the large "Farmers Market". This is a large permant structure that has had the market there since the 16th century. With the day finally coming to a close and we had walked our way through the "old town" and finally ending at the famous Ponte Vecchio Bridge. This bridge is the one where the lovers take their "locket key" to the center of the bridge and with a small ceremony, toss the key into the Arno River below indicating love for ever. Tomorrow...Cinque Terre