Getting a Feel for Florence

Trip to Italy - Journal Entry #10 (continued) - September 22, 2009 - 9:35 pm

After settling into our room, we headed off for an early lunch at an outdoor cafe in the Piazza della Signoria. We each had a different kind of pizza. Yum! As we ate, we got our bearings in the Piazza which houses several statues, the rear of the Uffizi Gallery and the Palazzo Vecchio.

After lunch, we walked to the boulevard overlooking the Arno and had our first look at the Ponte Vecchio. Although we were pretty far away, the bridge looked absolutely packed with people. This city, in fact, is swarming with tourists. Rome seemed busy but this seems even busier.

And here, pedestrians, rule. They swarm the streets, and our taxi driver from the train station had to wait patiently as he crawled down main streets where people filled the thoroughfares. And this has remained the case all day. In the central parts of the city, there is little car traffic. I think they must know to stay away.

Our first "attraction" of the day was the Uffizi Gallery, where we had 1:00 p.m. reservations -- which meant we got to enter through the short line, which really was a great advantage. The Uffizi has someamazing works of art, but I had expected it to be bigger. With our audio guides in hand, we toured the main floors of the gallery. We saw some fabulous Botticelli's as well as works by Michaelangelo, Titian, Lippi, Bronzino and Leonardo da Vinci. One added bonus offered by the Uffizi Gallery is perhaps one of the best views up the Arno from the second floor south gallery. The view takes in the Ponte Vecchio and three additional bridges beyond.

After theUffizi, Dad needed a rest so he went back to the Hotel. Chris and I soldiered on and headed for Santa Croce. This Church is best known for all the really famous people that are buried here, including Michaelangelo, Galileo, Rossini and Dante, to name but a few. But Santa Croce is also well known for its stained glass and a series of frescos by Giotto that adorn the altar. To our great dismay, we saw none of the frescos and few of the stained glass windows because the entire interior of the Church is undergoing massive renovations. There was scaffolding everywhere! Oh well. We were still able to see most of the tombs (about half were

under plastic) and we toured the chapels, the courtyard and a small museum on the grounds. The outside facade of this Church also is quite beautiful -- featuring a mosaic of different colors of marble.