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3 nights in Florence 7-16-2014
The train ride from Venice to Florence was about 75 euro per person, and took about 3 hours.
Duomo
The Duomo took 180 years to build. Duomo means House of God (Domini), it was called this to be one step above a cathedral which is just a house of worship.
The first picture is taken from the adjacent bell tower. On previous trips we had taken the steps to the top of the Dome, it's a must do if you visit Florence. Penny was dancing up a storm on the smooth marble floor. Pictures of our prevous adventure though Florence...
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Pinocchio Shop
The Australian TV show was filming an episode from their travel show "Ahn does...". Maybe we will show up in the background of Ahn does Florence.
Supposedly Pinochio was written in Florence, and this shop was the first in the world to sell a Pinochio marionette.
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Davinci Museum
Several models were created from Davinci's drawings. A bearing for vertical shafts, a unique water pump, a saw mill, and a grinder for making concave mirrors, just a few of the exibits on display. Check out this really cool clock in action.
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Misc
Small gallery of pictures, captions are shown when slideshow is viewed.
I highly recommend the two walking tours hosted by Hostel Archi Rossi. We didn't stay there this trip, but joined the tour for 15eu. I've tried other walking tours, this one is awesome.
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Santo Spirto
This is where the good resturants are in Florence.
1-2. Osteria Santo Spirito (recommend ordering half portions for 6 euro)
7-8. Gustapizza (best pizza we had in Italy, and cheap, 4-6 euro)
9-11. La Casalinga (beautiful inside, great food, reasonable price, cold A/C, and a big bucket of ice) Doesn't get much better, doesn't open till 7pm.
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Medici Walkway
The Medici family had two palaces, and did not want to walk with the commoners, so they build a private walkway to join the two. It cuts diagnonally though apartments and churches, and runs across Ponte Deveccio bridge.
The walk way is yellow, with square windows, and runs about 1.5 miles
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Medici Palace
This was the Medici family's larger palace. The exterior of their palaces were kept simple to not piss off the citizens. Their palaces offered public benchs and horse parking. The lower floor was used for commerce and offices, the second floor for the family. The third floor was for the kitchen and servants, just in case of fire, it would be contained to the third floor. The kitchen and servants could be replaced.
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Piazzale Michelangelo
We walked from dinner at Ponte Deviccio bridge to the top of Piazza Michaelangelo in about 25 minutes, racing to get there before the sunset. We were pretty drenched in sweat by the time we reached the top. Great end to our stay in Florence, we stayed out till midnight.
