Firenze

On Saturday we got up, cooked breakfast in our kitchen and drove to Firenze (Florence).  Because parking is such a problem we decided to Park a ways out of the city center and take a bus in.  It worked out OK going into the city.  We got off the buss at the train stations and then found our way to the Basilica.

 The basilica was enormous.  And there were thousands of people there!

 It was very ornate on the outside.

 And there was a line to get in.  It was only a 20 - 30 minute wait

 Inside was not quite so ornate, but very grand.

 I saw one of the security guys riding a scooter across the floor.

 Here is a very interesting clock. 

 Sister Keeffer wanted to climb to the top of the dome of the basilica so of course I agreed to go along.  We bought tickets and found the line.  The line was very long and after 30 minute it had moved about 10 feet.  At this rate we were going to wait for 4 - 8 hours.  We decided to go try the bell tower.

 It was also very tall - about 400 steps to the top.

 Here we are about half way up the tower.

 Now we are at the top.  About the same height as the top of the basilica.

 The view was fabulous.  This is looking towards the Uffizi Gallery and Ponte Vecchio

 It was a long ways down to the ground

 We got down, found our companions and walked towards the river.  Some of the street performers were very strange!  This guy was dressed like an ork or something.  He was busy decorating his tree.

 This guy was all in white dressed like Moses with a book 

 Some fancy Gelato

 This is the famous Ponte Vechio bridge where all of the gold smith shops are.

 The replica of the David 

 Statues were everywhere!  

 Sorry you cant quite read the price tag.  only 3900 euros!

We ate lunch at a little shop. wandered for a while then  had some Gelatto.  We then got back to the train station and it took us at least 45 minutes before we figured out which bus we needed to take to get back to our car. Once back in the car we drove to Piazzale Michelangelo.  A great view point overlooking the river and city!

 All and all it was a good day.  Lots of famous sights.  But lots and lots of people. Tough fighting the crowds.

 One last door I saw in Firenze.

 Each of the panels was different.  Here is the detail on one of them.