Florence, or Firenze as the say here, is a great place to go if you love art. We decided not to wait in the long lines or pay the high price to see any of the museums. It was our first time there and we just wanted to get a good feel for the city. We found free parking up above the city and stepped out of the car to the most amazing view. Plus there was a nice big statue of David in our parking lot, can’t beat that!
We walked through the courtyard of the Uffizi gallery, taking in all the statues. And out into the Signora piazza, where the famous campanile (bell tower) is. The statue of david used to stand right in front of the Campanile, which is a center of politics, one day someone ransacked the building and threw a table out the window, breaking David’s left arm off. So they decided to move David inside for protection for elements and tables. Today a replica of David stands where the real one used to stand.(The real one is in the Accademia…you have to reserve in advance to see it. We did not see it.)
The Duomo in Florence was very impressive. You could climb up to the top of it to see the view, or you could climb to the top of it’s bell tower, Giotto’s tower, for cheaper. So we did the bell tower, since that way we would have a view of the duomo. It was 414 steps up and Jonah did the WHOLE thing by himself. Every time I even tried to hold his hand he’d say “I got it Mom!” He also climbed most of the way down, I picked him up a few times because he kept trying to jump down the stairs and I was scared he was going to miss a step and roll. That kid is tough though. He climbed those stairs better then lot’s of the adults who were huffing and puffing.
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| Giotto’s tower, Jonah climbed it himself |
We stopped for gelato at the most amaaaazing place. Supposedly Florence has the best gelato in Italy. Aneesa and I both had a blueberry flavor that was so full of actual blueberries that our mouths and lips were a nice purpley blue afterward.
There is a bridge in Florence that is very famous. All the little buildings on it are jewelers shops and I guess some of them are very good. I can tell you they were definitely expensive!
