Okay, I'm up to day three of the Italy trip here. Bill and I got up at 2:30 in the morning to track the election results on BBC (available in our hotel), and didn't end up getting back to sleep until about 6:00 am (after Obama's speech in Grant Park). Despite missing so much sleep, we were strangely energized for the next day and got up around 7:30 to stroll down to the Adriatic Sea (a couple blocks from our hotel. The sunrise seemed particularly beautiful and promising of good things to come, especially in light of what had occurred back in the USA (more on that in later posts).
After breakfast, we loaded into the bus for the drive to Florence. Here's a scene (through the window, so a little washed out) of the kind of scenery we were rolling through:
Once in Florence, we immediately headed for the ceter of the city, congregating in the Piazza de San Croce. Our guide Carolina referred to this as one of the prettiest churches in all of Italy (and believe me, there's lots of competition):
We had a couple of hours before our planned guided tour, so everyone headed off in search of lunch or to do a little independent sightseeing. I was curious to see how much of the city I could remember from my last trip eight years ago, so headed for some of places I recalled visiting last time. Here's the Piazza de Signorile (I think I remember that right), where I spent part of New Year's Day 2000. Back then it was deserted (everyone sleeping in from the celebration the night before). I was glad to see the carousel is still there:
From there, Bill and I wandered over to the Duomo (bishop's cathedral), on the steps of which my friends and I celebrated the incoming new millenium. Bill took a picture of me standing on the steps, roughly where I was standing on that night eight years ago (I don't think I have a picture from the first visit, so it was nice to get one this time):
Florence is probably my favorite place of all those I've visited in Italy, and I'll have some more pictures from there to post shortly.
After breakfast, we loaded into the bus for the drive to Florence. Here's a scene (through the window, so a little washed out) of the kind of scenery we were rolling through:
Once in Florence, we immediately headed for the ceter of the city, congregating in the Piazza de San Croce. Our guide Carolina referred to this as one of the prettiest churches in all of Italy (and believe me, there's lots of competition):
We had a couple of hours before our planned guided tour, so everyone headed off in search of lunch or to do a little independent sightseeing. I was curious to see how much of the city I could remember from my last trip eight years ago, so headed for some of places I recalled visiting last time. Here's the Piazza de Signorile (I think I remember that right), where I spent part of New Year's Day 2000. Back then it was deserted (everyone sleeping in from the celebration the night before). I was glad to see the carousel is still there:
From there, Bill and I wandered over to the Duomo (bishop's cathedral), on the steps of which my friends and I celebrated the incoming new millenium. Bill took a picture of me standing on the steps, roughly where I was standing on that night eight years ago (I don't think I have a picture from the first visit, so it was nice to get one this time):
Florence is probably my favorite place of all those I've visited in Italy, and I'll have some more pictures from there to post shortly.
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