Tuesday morning (13 March), we got up really early and left the hotel by 5:00 a.m. so that we could catch the early train to Florence! Our first stop was getting breakfast and mapping out our hectic route for the day-unfortunately that stop had to be at a McDonald's because it's one of the few restaurants that doesn't charge extra for sitting down.
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| Frantically planning our day |
The first place we visited was the Santa Maria Novella which is right next to the train station. The facade is an example of Italian Gothic but the interior has some elements from the Renaissance.
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| Santa Maria Novella |
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| Santa Maria Novella courtyard |
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| Santa Maria Novella nave |
After visiting the Santa Maria Novella, we went to the Medici Chapel. Then, we followed the street which had a large market where vendors were selling leather goods of all sorts. We ended up at the entrance to the Basilica di San Lorenzo which is also connected to the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana (library) whose entrance stairs were designed by Michelangelo!
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| Entrance stairs by Michelangelo! |
This was a very innovative design because for the time he was combining rectalinear and curvilinear forms. The center stairs seem to be spilling out but yet contained by the standard linear stairs to either side.
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| Wood carved ceiling of the library |
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| Study pews in the library |
Next, we went to the Galleria dell'Accademia where Michelangelo's David is housed. Unfortunately, we couldn't take any pictures. After that, we went to visit Il Duomo which is the big cathedral in Florence.
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| Il Duomo |
We visited the inside of the church, ...
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| Il Duomo nave |
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| Dome of Il Duomo |
...then saw the outside of the bell tower, ...
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| Campanile di Il Duomo |
...viewed the facade, ...
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| Facade of Il Duomo |
...then went to the Baptistery, ...
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| Dome of the Baptistery |
...and then we decided it was time to climb the huge dome of Il Duomo!!
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| Going to the top! |
At first, Kyle was really excited to go to the top.
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| What?!? Stairs the whole way!!! (463 stairs...) |
Then, I told him we had to walk the entire way...
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| Transept of Il Duomo from the dome |
When we got to the rim of the dome, I told him we were halfway there. Maybe I lied...
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| Steps inside the double dome-designed by Brunelleschi |
The view was definitely worth it when we got to the top!
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| View of the city |
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| We finally made it! |
Then, it was time to go back down and I maybe told him that there was a slide so that we wouldn't have to walk down all of them.
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| A slide down! |
Maybe I lied again...
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| Grrrrr!! |
The stairs down seem a little scarier, especially when they disappear over the side of the dome...
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| Stairs going down |
Once, we finally were down we realized that it was quite the accomplishment and we were very proud of ourselves!
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| Yep, we were all the way up at the top! |
Next, we went to the house of Michelangelo!
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| Casa Buonarroti |
Unfortunately, they were closed...
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| Closed on Tuesdays :( |
After our failed attempt at visiting Michelangelo's house, we visited the church that he regularly attended.
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| Santa Croce nave |
The church has the tombs of both Michelangelo and Galileo inside.
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| Tomb of Michelangelo |
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| Tomb of Galileo Galilei |
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| Cloister of Santa Croce |
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| Facade of Santa Croce |
Next, we walked around the city some more before heading to the last museum. We had a wonderful view of the Ponte Vecchio which has shops built all along the top of it.
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| Ponte Vecchio |
We went to the Palazzo Pitti and tried to see the Giardino di Boboli but the last entrance time had already passed. The Palazzo Pitti is one of the grand palaces in Florence which used to belong to the Pitti family who were rivals with the Medici family. Later it was used by Napoleon Bonaparte as his residence while he was in control of Italy.
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| View of Giardino di Boboli from a window in Palazzo Pitti |
We only had one more thing left to see and lucky for us, the way there involved us actually crossing the Ponte Vecchio!
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| Walking down the Ponte Vecchio |
We're almost there!!!
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| Courtyard of the Uffizi |
Ta da! This is a replica of the famous David sculpted by Michelangelo. In his left hand, you can see him holding the stone that he used to take down Goliath. This replica is in the exact place that the original was.
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| The David replica in Piazza della Signoria |
Just another reminder-we climbed to the top of the dome-that's right!
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| 463 steps to the top! |
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