Florence, August 1-3rd

Morning above Florence.


The ceiling at the Uffizi. Whole galleries and hallways painted like this! Late 16th century. I spent almost as much time gawking at the ceiling and running into people as I did looking at the paintings (several of which were recently restored and eye-popping). Yeah, after about 4.5 hours Mom was weak with hunger and drug me out, but I could spend days here. I like the collections better than the Prado.


By some fluke of architecture, the only way you can actually see the dome of the duomo from the roof of the Uffizi is in the window reflection--not from looking out the edge of the roof. So Mom and I are playing with the reflection.


Classic Florence skyline, the view from our campground above the city.


Another skyline view, with the Ponte Vecchio and Rio Arno. I've read rather too much historical fiction based in Florence, and my imagination loves to run amok in this city. It was the heart of the Rennaisance, and so many amazing ideas bubbled out of these neighborhoods.


A pissy looking pigeon on top of an equally pissy looking lion. Italy is filled with lion statues in all positions and moods. They all seem to have a personality of their own, but they all remind me of Oz too.



The Duomo, with some restoration scaffolding (it's getting a bath). This cathedral is unlike anything else in the world. It always sneaks up on me--you turn a corner and bam! The worlds biggest gingerbread house. At first thought it should be ugly--marble of all different colours in strips and patterns ought to be gawdy on something so huge, especially in the middle of all the browns of the historic district, but instead it's stunning and gorgeous and solemn rather than whimsical.


The duomo is far too big to actually fit into one photo, but here's another angle.


Window detail.