Florence, Italy

After four days in Rome, we were excited to get to Florence for a change of pace and to see the famous Renaissance art. It took us four hours to get to Florence on a Trenitalia regional train. The regional train was cheaper than the high speed Eurostar train, but was also less comfortable and took longer because it stopped more often. We stayed at Hotel Il Bargellino, a small, homey hotel near the train station owned by ex-Bostonian Carmel and her Italian husband Pino. Although the hotel is filled with beautiful art and our room connected to a garden terrace with fruit trees, the owners were a bit noisy, we did not have a private bathroom (which is common in Europe), and, most importantly, Lorenzo ended up getting 13 mosquito bites over the course of 2 nights sleep. After exploring our hotel, we walked about 10 minutes to the Duomo Cathedral which sits in the center of Florence. We were impressed at the size and openness of the inside of the Cathedral compared to some other churches we'd seen. While inside, we admired the art and architecture. Our next stop was the bronze doors of the baptistry which sits directly across from the entrance to the Cathedral. We carefully examined each of the door panels because each portrays a different story from the Old Testament. Later that evening, we walked around the city and were surprised by all the people, music, and celebrating in the streets. It turns out that we were in Florence during a holiday weekend - it was their Labor Day weekend. For our second day in Florence, we made reservations at the Accademia, the art gallery that contains Michelangelo's David statue. David was much taller and more impressive than we expected, and the details on the statue were amazing. After the Accademia, we followed Rick Steves' audio tour "Renaissance walk through Florence" which led us down a busy pedestrian street, through the square where the David statue originally sat (now a copy sits there), and to the Ponte Vecchio Bridge. Along the way, we stopped for gelato and discovered our new favorite flavor, frutti di bosco (mixed berry flavor). Later that evening, we explored the city sights at night.


Kim checking out the lemon tree on our hotel terrace.


Kim in front of the Duomo Cathedral.


Lorenzo lighting a candle in the Cathedral for his mother.


Kim lighting a candle.


Lorenzo in front of the bronze baptistry doors created by Lorenzo Ghiberti.


We snuck a picture of David.


Lorenzo listening to the Rick Steves audio tour.


Lorenzo standing in front of a statue of Lorenzo the Magnificent.


Lorenzo and Kim standing on the Ponte Vecchio Bridge.


The Ponte Vecchio Bridge


The view from the Ponte Vecchio Bridge at night.


Lorenzo and Kim rubbing the bronze boar statue. The legend is that if you rub the boar's nose, you will come back to Florence one day.