Florence

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Florence Italy--I think the best word to describe this city -museum. There is something old everywhere you look. There are statues, buildings, bridges, paintings, even our hotel elevator-- everywhere in the city things are ancient.

One of the main sights we wanted to see was the Santa Maria del Flore Cathedral and its Duomo (dome). The gothic cathedral is the third largest. The Vatican and cathedral in London are the only ones bigger. The duomo is the largest dome in the world since the Pantheon in Rome. The lines to tour the inside of the cathedral and climb to the top of the duomo were about three hours long. That is way too long for us so we satisfied ourselves with looking at the exterior. And there was plenty to see on the outside--statues, tilework, columns all adorn the exterior walls.

But we did get to go inside Accademia where Michaelangelo's statue of David is on display. Now that is an impressive work of art. The level of detail he carved out of a chunk of marble is incredible.

Also on display in Accademia in addition to countless paintings dating back as far as the 1300s is an altar cloth that is unbelievable. It was dated 1360. The cloth measures approximately 12 feet long and 3 feet high. The delicate work was done with single strands of silk thread. The design is extremely intricate. I only wish we could have photographed it but no cameras allowed in Accademia.

And we couldn't leave Florence without finding the vista. There is a terrace at the high point of the city. We walked up to it so we could peruse the city.

Our stay was short. We saw as much as we could before hopping the fast (225 km/hr) train to our next stop--Venice.

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Photos

Outside the Cathedral
A close up of some of the exterior artwork

statue of Brunelleschi
The builder of the dome.

Ancient Elevator
Wire frame exterior door then two wooden doors. Elevator holds two people.

Comments

[Rene]

WOW
Just plain WOW!!!