We arrived by Train in Florence and grabbed a cab to our hotel in the heart of the city. We stayed in Florence May 11, 12 and 13. It has been hard to pick which pictures to show.
We had a room at the Hotel Loggiato dei Serviti. It was on the Piazza St. Annunziata and faced the Hospital of the Innocents and backed up to the hotel. It was an older building with an elevator that could fit only three people inside. The hotel hadn't been modernized.
In the dining room I could imagine WWII Italian and German officers sitting and having breakfast just like we were and later American officers doing the same thing.
The ceiling of our bedroom.
The Cathedral di Santa Maria del Fiore (The Duomo) and its dome designed by Brunelleschi seen from the piazza in front of our hotel. The Cathedral was started in 1296 with no idea of how to build a dome. In 1418 a contest was run to design a dome and Brunelleschi won. He studied the Pantheon in Rome to see how they did it 1500 years earlier. So much knowledge was lost in the dark ages.
The Cathedral's front. The Baptistry is on the right.
Another church we passed along the street
The church had at one time been a storehouse. This was originally a grain shoot from the second story.
The Palazzo Vecchio seen from the Piazza della Signoria. A copy of Michelagelo's David stands in front
The Rape of the Sabines inside of The Loggia dei Lanzi which contains many beautiful sculptures.
The Arno river.
The Duomo Museum. It looked pretty small from the outside but had a lot inside. The next two photo's are of the Cathedrals original facade.
From the doors of the Baptistry. There were two sets of doors done several years apart and the artistry had improved in that time.
More from the Cathedral museum.
There were many church relics.
Michelangelo's Pieta. He was not happy with his work.
From the original cathedral. Depictions of many crafts and professions. I was impressed.
A model of the dome.
Some very fine mosaics. From?????
Choir books were made large so the whole choir could see it.
An Alter.
The Baptistry looking toward the Cathedral.
We walked to the Piazza Michelangelo across the Arno which has another full size copy of The David. Plus great views of Florence. But first we passed through a nice garden with interesting sculptures.
Ponte Vecchio
We passed by Pizza Napoli on the way to crossing the Arno and we just had to come back for some Naples pizza. They were pretty full but the manager sat us at a table with a couple on their honeymoon from Shanghai. They spoke excellent English and we had a good time with them. Once we finished the manager came by and gave us a free shot of Lemoncello. A picture of our manager.
The Uffizi. The best art gallery in Italy? Could be. We went in at 8:15 shortly after it opened and rushed through the last sections and left at 2:00.
Looking from the walkway connecting the two arms of the museum.
There was a small cafe in the museum which gave us a nice break to sit and rest and another view of the dome.
A painting by Albrecht Durer. We toured his house when we were in Nuremburg.
We saw the bronze version of this in Rome.
We only had one full day in Florence when the museums were open. We hurried from the Uffizi to the Galleria dell'Accademia di Firenze. They kicked us out at 6:00 when it closed.
The rape of the Sabines.
No David here.
And finally The David. The setting probably had a lot to do with it but even after seeing the other David it was pretty impressive when we turned the corner to this view.
5555
A side gallery of sculpture
I saw this and wondered what the heck were they doing to this old artwork. It turns out that the dots are points the artist used on his models to help transfer the design to marble.
In another part of the museum was a display of musical instruments. It was more interesting than I thought it would be. I'd show the Strad but it just looks like a violin.
A demonstration of how a harpsicord plucks strings. I tried to video it but it didn't come out.
A Hurdey Gurdey.
We had to do some laundry by this point in the trip. It was ran by a couple who were very helpful in helping us get started. The machines are hooked to a panel on the wall you have to use to get them started and dispense soap.
One more view of Florence.
