10-24 Florence Day Trip and "Where Have I Been!?"

Long time no speak. I'm now in Catania, Sicily, and that's a story of its own, so I'll wait until my Sicily entry to talk about that. This blog will be about my 10-24 day trip to Florence. I had an absolute blast, and the train rides were really great. I loved seeing the Tuscan countryside while on the train. That said, onto the 19 pictures in this collection!

The Duomo! This beauty of a church is in the heart of Florence, and is an absolute masterpiece from its details and decorations to Brunelleschi's absolute Goliath of a dome!

Some of the decoration and intricacy within the facade of the Duomo.

The beautiful bronze doors which took over a decade to build in themselves!

A shot of Brunelleschi's dome from the outside.

The main altar of the Duomo.

A selection of the many unbelievable frescoes painted on the inside of Brunelleschi's Dome. Note the baby-eating dragon on the right side. The significance of all these frescoes is that as the dome progresses from bottom to top, the scenes change from hellish scenes to those of heaven.

The inside of the dome... and it still doesn't all fit within the scope of an 18mm photo.

My head was literally 1 ft below these frescoes while I was ascending the 440-some-odd steps to the top of Brunelleschi's Dome. These things are unbelievable, and I was really excited to get the chance to be so close to them where I could see brush strokes and details.

Me on top of the dome looking out on the city of Florence.

A replica of the Statue of David, positioned where the original was at ONE POINT. The original is now housed in the Accademia Gallery in Florence. I went there later in the day, and I have to say I was absolutely awestruck at this statue. I really thought it was all hype, but it really is unreal! If I had to recommend two other statues within the walls of the Accademia, it would be Eros with Swan and the Pieta. Eros with Swab is just hilarious, because it's a statue of a little boy holding a swan in his hands, and he has a big smile on his face. The swan, however, over the years of deterioration since it's been made, has lost his head. So there stands this boy, happy as can be, with an absolutely headless swan... not the artist's intention, but absolutely GOLD! The Pieta is not Michelangelo's Pieta or a copy of it from St. Peter's. This one was an earlier version, which they originally credited to Michelangelo, but have since changed their opinion, and now give credit to one of his unnamed students. They say this because the body of Jesus is far too disproportionate to be the work of Michelangelo. However, I enjoyed this statue, because unlike many statues and paintings of Jesus at the cross, looking malnourished and weakened, this statue portrayed him as powerful, large, and strong, but still made it obvious that we were looking at Jesus. A very cool way of reinterpreting the stations of the cross.

Another statue near the replica of David. This one portrays Hercules in combat.
San Lorenzo church. Lots of Michelangelo stuff within these walls, but some of it was closed, and I would have had to pay an extra 8 Euros just to see a tomb he did for the Medici family. I'd rather spend 2 Euro and just enjoy the inside of the church.

San Croce church. Didn't get a chance to go inside, but like the Duomo, the detail and decoration on the facade is breathtaking.

Exhibit A... these gorgeous carved giant doors.

Coming over a bridge just west of the Ponte Vecchio Bridge.

A shot of some covered walkways leading up to the Ponte Vecchio Bridge.

The Ponte Vecchio Bridge. Very cool bridge with tons of history. It has been described as Europe's oldest wholly-stone, closed-spandrel segmental arch bridge, but it has since been proven that this is inaccurate.

Another shot of the Ponte Vecchio.

The "inside" of the Ponte Vecchio, with countless amounts of infinitely expensive jewelers situated on its edges.

So that'll do it for this post. My plan has changed for this break, and you'll know why in my Sicily entry. I'm leaving for Venice with Amy at 10:15 or so tonight by aeroplane. We'll be there for a day, and then heading to Cinque Terre. After Cinque Terre, we're taking an overnight train to Vienna, where our plan will continue as originally intended. I'll be all over the place over the next few days, so my blogging could be limited. I owe you guys the following blogs right now: Siena day trip from 10/25, and my Sicily experience since the night of 10/26. Those will come in due time... please be patient with me. With those will more than likely be my Venice and Cinque Terre entries. Enjoy this for now, and I'll be back in touch soon.