Firenze II

First off, due to computer problems I've been unable to update the site for a couple days. Now that I'm back, we'll start with what happened on Wednesday.

Wednesday morning we hopped on the train to Firenze. When we got there we killed time looking for food for about 40 minutes, then started our tour of the Florence Cathedral. Honestly I wasn't that impressed with the interior of the cathedral. It was nice, but very simple and understated.

The interior of Florence Cathedral is very simple and elegant

I loved the columns in the cathedral

I did really like the columns though, and the way they traced the strucutral elements from the floor through to the roof.

After looking through the cathedral for some time we went to the museum of the cathedral where we got to see a lot of the original statues and engravings that have now been stored in the museum to protect them from the elements, while duplicates have been placed on the actual surface of the building.

This is the death mask of Brunelleschi (I hope I spelled that right) who designed the dome of the cathedral.

This is the museum interior, it was a beautiful building

After we went through the museum we split up, and Jason, Jon, Brett and I went to lunch...

We were thrilled when we saw the sign for the American Embassy...

This was the best meal I've had in a long time. Fittingly this is the 777th picture I've taken on the trip.

When we saw the sign for the American Embassy in Florence we figured we just had to have a hamburger. I have to say it was the best food we've had since we've been here. That's not true probably, but it was great to get a good break from the pasta we've had every meal since arriving. The food has gotten really repetitive.

On our way back towards the town center we saw Cathedral Santa Maria Novella, which is near the central train station (the train station is named Firenze SMN after this church) and then we went back to the Florence Cathedral to climb to the top of the dome.

Cathedral Santa Maria Novella

The climb up cost 6 euro and took about 30 minutes, but it was well worth it. I'll let the pictures explain.

The medici palace is in the foreground, the Arno River is in the background

The campanielle with the city behind

Brett, Jason, and Jon, enjoying the view

Cathedral Santa Croche with the hills behind

The streets of Florence

That was a once in a lifetime type experience. I'd really love to take other people up and show them, so this will be one of the most important stops if the family ever gets to come back with me to visit.

Ok, its dinner time so I'm going to go eat, but I'll be back to add some more about the last couple days after dinner.