Hello all sorry - it's our last week in Firenze and we have been pretty busy out and about trying to cram in as much as possible! Anyway - in the last week we have seen a few more things around the Florence area.
Tuesday 7th
We caught up with a friend of mine from high school in Darwin, who now lives here in Firenze. We had lunch in a very nice little Greek restaurant and then visited the Archeologica Museo. They had a bit of everything - a reasonably large Egyptian collection, Roman & Etruscan bronzes and pottery. Jacob was so tired from the trip to Milan and Alana had a number of lessons to catch up on due to her travels in the last few weeks, so we really only got to see the first floor and a small bit of the second floor.
Thursday 9th
First thing was a trip to the grocery store - except I rolled my ankle on the way there. We were crossing a road and Jacob was bouncing around and pulling on my hand so I didn't see the pothole. Over I went with an accompanying snapping sound followed by the pain, nausea, faintness that goes with a sprain. I hobbled to the nearest place I could sit and having just left home we had ice cold water from the fridge with us so it got doused with that. I hobbled on to the supermarket to find it was closed! We took the tram then around to another supermarket that doesn't close for the lunch period and then went home.
We had planned to go to see the Church of the Annunziata - a Servite church (I worked for them in Perth) and then to go to Galleria Academia in the evening. We went over to see the church, had dinner in a nice Chinese restaurant and then went to the Galleria to find a long snaky line stretching half way around the block - so we went home instead.
Saturday 11th
Barry was due to arrive in the afternoon, so the boys and I took the sightseeing bus around Florence and up the hill to Fiesole. It is an area that was settled before Florence and has a beautiful view back down into the valley where Florence is located. The bus driver was a bit of a maniac - although they were 10-15min ahead of scheduled stop times they literally raced the bus up to Fiesole - which made getting photos of any kind difficult, not least because your hair was whipping everywhere and the breeze was strong enough that it hurt the eyes..... not to mention if you wanted to catch the bus! We left one stop at 12.25 when it was due to depart that stop at 12.35! At Fiesole it was due to depart at 13.05, but left at 12.55 having arrived 20 min early! Anyway, we had a lovely relaxing lunch at Fiesole and a look around before coming back down.
One of the places that we went through was Piazza Michelangelo which has a bronze statue replica of David and a nice view of Florence. We didn't stop because we had to get back to meet Barry - but decided to return with him on Sunday.
Sunday 12th
Today we went to the Galleria, having purchased tickets and reserving a time. Unfortunately, like the Uffizi you are not allowed to take photographs, although Barry did get a photo of David on his phone before being shouted at! David was very impressive as were the other statues on display. Upstairs the boys watched a video on how the gold gilding is placed onto panel pictures. We caught a bus from here up to the Piazza Michelangelo. Where we took some photographs and had lunch, before returning (via 2 different buses) to the Ponte Vecchio area, walking Barry through to the Uffizi, Palazzo Vecchio, Piazza Signoria and home via the station to book our tickets back to Rome on Thursday.
Tuesday 7th
We caught up with a friend of mine from high school in Darwin, who now lives here in Firenze. We had lunch in a very nice little Greek restaurant and then visited the Archeologica Museo. They had a bit of everything - a reasonably large Egyptian collection, Roman & Etruscan bronzes and pottery. Jacob was so tired from the trip to Milan and Alana had a number of lessons to catch up on due to her travels in the last few weeks, so we really only got to see the first floor and a small bit of the second floor.
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| Egyptian papyrus |
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| Bronzes |
Thursday 9th
First thing was a trip to the grocery store - except I rolled my ankle on the way there. We were crossing a road and Jacob was bouncing around and pulling on my hand so I didn't see the pothole. Over I went with an accompanying snapping sound followed by the pain, nausea, faintness that goes with a sprain. I hobbled to the nearest place I could sit and having just left home we had ice cold water from the fridge with us so it got doused with that. I hobbled on to the supermarket to find it was closed! We took the tram then around to another supermarket that doesn't close for the lunch period and then went home.
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| Church of the Annunziata |
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| Fresco in portico area |
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| inside |
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| detail painted on the dome |
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| showing a little more of the gilded roof |
We had planned to go to see the Church of the Annunziata - a Servite church (I worked for them in Perth) and then to go to Galleria Academia in the evening. We went over to see the church, had dinner in a nice Chinese restaurant and then went to the Galleria to find a long snaky line stretching half way around the block - so we went home instead.
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| St Philip Benizi |
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| St Guiliana d'Falconi |
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| Cloister |
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| Sculpture on one of the smaller side domes |
Saturday 11th
Barry was due to arrive in the afternoon, so the boys and I took the sightseeing bus around Florence and up the hill to Fiesole. It is an area that was settled before Florence and has a beautiful view back down into the valley where Florence is located. The bus driver was a bit of a maniac - although they were 10-15min ahead of scheduled stop times they literally raced the bus up to Fiesole - which made getting photos of any kind difficult, not least because your hair was whipping everywhere and the breeze was strong enough that it hurt the eyes..... not to mention if you wanted to catch the bus! We left one stop at 12.25 when it was due to depart that stop at 12.35! At Fiesole it was due to depart at 13.05, but left at 12.55 having arrived 20 min early! Anyway, we had a lovely relaxing lunch at Fiesole and a look around before coming back down.
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| Biblioteca & Santa Croce in background |
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| Houses on hill leading to Fiesole. It was a country retreat area for the Medici and other wealthy families. |
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| The main square in Fiesole |
One of the places that we went through was Piazza Michelangelo which has a bronze statue replica of David and a nice view of Florence. We didn't stop because we had to get back to meet Barry - but decided to return with him on Sunday.
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| Looking back down the valley |
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| Florence and the Duomo thru the trees |
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| Looking from Fiesole in opposite direction - olive groves |
Sunday 12th
Today we went to the Galleria, having purchased tickets and reserving a time. Unfortunately, like the Uffizi you are not allowed to take photographs, although Barry did get a photo of David on his phone before being shouted at! David was very impressive as were the other statues on display. Upstairs the boys watched a video on how the gold gilding is placed onto panel pictures. We caught a bus from here up to the Piazza Michelangelo. Where we took some photographs and had lunch, before returning (via 2 different buses) to the Ponte Vecchio area, walking Barry through to the Uffizi, Palazzo Vecchio, Piazza Signoria and home via the station to book our tickets back to Rome on Thursday.
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| Bronze David & Florence |
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| Old city wall |
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| Ponte Vecchio at left, Palazzo Vechhio centre and Duomo on right |
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| Florence from lookout |
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| The "illegal" David photo! |
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