Florence

After leaving Venice, we took a 2 hour train ride to Florence.  From the train station we walked to our hotel, once again thinking it would be easy following our map, and once again we got lost almost immediately but it turns out that the route we took gave us wider roads to walk on than the more direct way.

Our hotel

The view to the left from our hotel room. 

Inside a typical church

Loved the buildings and narrow streets

The Gelato was YUMMY!!!

The Duomo was my favorite building, the coloring

below is because of the way the sunlight was hitting it

This picture was taken by my new friend Bev from her hotel room

and I took it from her Facebook posting.  Hope you don't mind, Bev

We met Bev and Grahame for breakfast their last morning in Florence

 We found a Gyro restaurant for a takeout meal with a local beer

 How to make the most of garage space

We went to the Central Market.  Now we know where everyone shops here.  It's only open until 2 PM.  It's an indoor market that sells everything to eat - fruit, vegetables, cheese, meat, poultry, fish, alcohol, bread, nuts, dried fruits . . .

 

We couldn't resist any longer and bought a bottle of limoncello
here and put it in our suitcase without and problem.

 The food court

Outside is the San Lorenzo Market which goes around the church of San Lorenzo and is like the
Grand Bazaar but mainly selling leather, scarves, pashminas and some jewelry.  Lots of leather.

We had a delicious dinner at a restaurant down the street from our hotel, Ristorante Il Profeta.  There are so many restaurants every where you go, with employees courting you to eat there as you walk down the street.  Larry chose this one before we even saw the excellent reviews on Trip Advisor.

 Pitti Palace

The gelato displays were the most attractive in Florence

A gelato a day keeps the ??? away

An outdoor bar

Bikes and motorbikes were a main source of transportation as well as small cars

This is where the original statue of David resided from 1504 until 1873 when it was moved to the Accademia Gallery.  It was replaced by a replica in the same location in front of the Palazzo Vecchio (the Town Hall of Florence). No photos allowed in the Accademia.

This is a view from the Uffizi Gallery Museum that houses lots of famous Renaissance art (no pictures allowed in there either) of the Ponte Vecchio. The Vecchio Bridge is the oldest and most famous bridge in Florence over the Arno River.

Does anyone know who she is?  She might be someone famous. When we were on the Ponte Veccio she was strutting her stuff and there were photographers.  Larry was impressed by her so I took a pic.

We're on our way to the train station and not walking!!

 Waiting for the train to Roma