Florence

After the beauty of the Cinque Terre, it was off to the culture of Florence. Tourists go to Florence for the art and the fashion. Our focus was primarily on the art. But we also had the time to visit a lovely park and just relax. That was nice.

Here we have a classic view of Florence. You can see the River Arno at the bottom. Dominating the skyline are the Duomo (on the right) and the tower at the Palazzo Vecchio (on the left). You can see that the Duomo has a dome. But you should know, duomo means cathedral in Italian, not dome.

First on the list when visiting Florence is the Uffizi Gallery. It's home to a world-class collection of art and Marisa did a great job of helping me to understand the world-classiness of it. Below we have one of the more famous paintings in the collection, Botticceli's The Birth of Venus. And while the Wikipedia image gives you an idea of the beauty of the work, seeing it in person is another experience altogether.

After the Uffizi, any self-respecting tourist will make her way to the Accademia di Belle Arti to see Michelangelo's David. Here's another instance where an image from Wikipedia cannot properly do justice to the work. The statue is on a pedestal and towers over you, but you can still get close enough to see how immaculate it is.

After viewing all the art on the inside of buildings, there's also art to be viewed outside. The main attraction is probably the area surrounding the Duomo, where you see the vibrant colors of the cathedral's facade.

Across the plaza from the entrance to the Duomo is the baptistry. The main attraction of the baptistry is its doors. As you can see, there were rows of people making sure they were getting a very nice picture for their blogs. I'm closest on the left.

Here's my favorite shot. I really liked the artist's use of perspective.

Beautiful works of art that are outside are best viewed while eating gelato. Here's a photo of some of the most immaculately displayed gelato we saw in all of Italy.

There's also natural beauty to be enjoyed in Florence. On our last day, we walked away from the hustle and bustle and along this lovely river path. It led to a park that was perfect for observing Florenzians and laying in the shade.