Florence…Here we Come!
Today was transfer day…my very first train ride…how sheltered am I! After a wrestle with my luggage…the luggage won! Off cross country to Florence. I was really excited…I’ve always wanted to see the Tuscan valley. Florence had a completely different scene...the architecture was decorated with mosaics and colorful inlays!...what magnificent workmanship! Once there we headed to our…well I’ll use the word hotel…but I think hole in wall is a little better fit! Hot, Yellow, Dingy! But none the less a place to lay my head… if I dare. P.S. Sorry for all the exclamation points! We next meet up with Tanya our next tour guide…take it away. First, the Santa Maria Novella, Florence’s architecture is so different, unique and exquisite. We took a tour around town…a bit of a blur…that’s a lot of info to take in. It was so great to see the palaces that we talked about in history, seeing the different levels and understanding the history of the city. Florence was originally a market town for fabrics…some of the stone had marks for measuring for fabrics from way back when. The whole city was very gothic compared to Rome, frozen in time. We went to the cathedral where the frescos of Masaccio studied by Michelangelo. Florence is very proud of their art history, the birth place of the Renaissance. One unique thing we saw was a sculpture by Michelangelo of the Crucifix. This is recorded as his very first works, now housed in Basilica of Santa Maria del Santo Spirito was very unique, a very young Christ very frail, and very real. Michelangelo was known for studying the anatomy of bodies which in his time was very taboo. The tour ended in front of the Duomo, the Florence name for cathedral, with the beautiful inlayed white, terracotta and green stone. The baptistery doors detailed bronze reliefs done by Leonardo Ghiberti depicting the scenes biblical scenes. This was really exciting for me to see because I did my research on the doors, reading about each scene and hearing about how they took 20 plus years on each door. Doors that Michelangelo referred to as the “Gates of Paradise”. After our lovely tour we took a trip to Grom…amazing…I can now die…this was the best…I repeat…best Gelato ever created. Real Gelato apparently isn’t suppose to be made with milk, and this particular venue, they grow their own fruits for the flavors. In season now were apricots, melons, strawberries, blueberry raspberries, lemons, pear, and peach. I had the amazing combo of melon and apricot…yes please! Don’t worry we took another 2 trips back to try them all 31 flavors! Whit, Michelle and I enjoyed the town a little and found a corner pizza place to have a slice, one had potatoes on it and really good pepperoni! We did some shopping and then came back to our crappartment and got to finally talk to my family for the first time on Skype! Florence has such a great relaxed atmosphere, everyone enjoys just being in Florence!
Today was transfer day…my very first train ride…how sheltered am I! After a wrestle with my luggage…the luggage won! Off cross country to Florence. I was really excited…I’ve always wanted to see the Tuscan valley. Florence had a completely different scene...the architecture was decorated with mosaics and colorful inlays!...what magnificent workmanship! Once there we headed to our…well I’ll use the word hotel…but I think hole in wall is a little better fit! Hot, Yellow, Dingy! But none the less a place to lay my head… if I dare. P.S. Sorry for all the exclamation points! We next meet up with Tanya our next tour guide…take it away. First, the Santa Maria Novella, Florence’s architecture is so different, unique and exquisite. We took a tour around town…a bit of a blur…that’s a lot of info to take in. It was so great to see the palaces that we talked about in history, seeing the different levels and understanding the history of the city. Florence was originally a market town for fabrics…some of the stone had marks for measuring for fabrics from way back when. The whole city was very gothic compared to Rome, frozen in time. We went to the cathedral where the frescos of Masaccio studied by Michelangelo. Florence is very proud of their art history, the birth place of the Renaissance. One unique thing we saw was a sculpture by Michelangelo of the Crucifix. This is recorded as his very first works, now housed in Basilica of Santa Maria del Santo Spirito was very unique, a very young Christ very frail, and very real. Michelangelo was known for studying the anatomy of bodies which in his time was very taboo. The tour ended in front of the Duomo, the Florence name for cathedral, with the beautiful inlayed white, terracotta and green stone. The baptistery doors detailed bronze reliefs done by Leonardo Ghiberti depicting the scenes biblical scenes. This was really exciting for me to see because I did my research on the doors, reading about each scene and hearing about how they took 20 plus years on each door. Doors that Michelangelo referred to as the “Gates of Paradise”. After our lovely tour we took a trip to Grom…amazing…I can now die…this was the best…I repeat…best Gelato ever created. Real Gelato apparently isn’t suppose to be made with milk, and this particular venue, they grow their own fruits for the flavors. In season now were apricots, melons, strawberries, blueberry raspberries, lemons, pear, and peach. I had the amazing combo of melon and apricot…yes please! Don’t worry we took another 2 trips back to try them all 31 flavors! Whit, Michelle and I enjoyed the town a little and found a corner pizza place to have a slice, one had potatoes on it and really good pepperoni! We did some shopping and then came back to our crappartment and got to finally talk to my family for the first time on Skype! Florence has such a great relaxed atmosphere, everyone enjoys just being in Florence!
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