The Allisons

Florence
We went to Florence in January. Thanks to a friend from high school and her husband who are in Florence for a year for missions, we were able to sleep on an air mattress at their apartment which greatly cut down on expense and allowed us to see more of the city. Although quite chilly, winter is a great time to travel because the weather is usually nice (aside from the cold), crowds are down, and things are cheaper. It was about a 4 hour train ride from Pordenone to Florence. We arrived about 4 pm and went to settle in at the apartment. We chatted for a while and then Mike and I set out to see the Baptistry and Duomo. We toured the Baptistry where Dante was baptized and walked around the outside of the Duomo. This is a picture of the ceiling. It's hard to see but it's Christ accepting souls into heaven or condemning them to hell. The rest of the ceiling was done in smaller, chronological biblical scenes and the different levels of angels around the top. This is also where the famous "Doors of Paradise" are. It was getting dark so we decided to find somewhere to eat. Then we went back to the apartment to catch up on some LOST episodes. The next morning we left to catch a train to Pisa about an hour away. I'll talk about Pisa in the next blog. After we got back from Pisa we headed to the Duomo to try to get in before it closed. We ate at the Pizzeria del Corso on the way--fabulous pizza.

The Campanile is on the left. We entered the cathedral (middle picture)--Europe's 4th largest church and the city's tallest building. It was amazing. We were afraid that we'd missed all the tours to the top of the Duomo (right picture), but we finally found the line and headed up. There are two shells, for the Duomo. When you climb the stairs to the top, you are actually climbing in between the two shells. It was a long, hard climb but the close up views of paintings on the inside of the Duomo and views of the city are well worth the effort, especially at sunset. These are pictures from the top of the Duomo.

The next morning, we went to the museums. We went to the Academia first to see Michelangelo's "David". It was so beautiful. The detail made it look so real. We weren't supposed to take pictures. So of course we didn't. But if we had, I probably wouldn't post them here. Then we walked to the other side of town to tour the Uffizi (pictured on the right). It is Italy's most famous art gallery and we saw many great works of art. My personal favorite is Botticelli's "Birth of Venus".

You might recognize this building from one of the shots of the city from the Duomo. It's the Palazzo Vecchio. It is the heart of Florence's political and social life. There is also a "pavilion" with a lot of statues in it. The statues are supposed to represent historic victories and act as warnings to attackers. The picture on the right was taken from inside the U-shaped Uffizi. The bronze statue in the middle is my particular favorite. He's holding a head.

We walked along the river and across the Ponte Vecchio. Built in 1345, it is the only one of Florence's bridges that wasn't destroyed during WWII. You can't really tell, but the picture on the left is a statue on the Ponte Vecchio. There is a fence around the statue and all over the fence are locks. The legend (as told to us by our friends) is that if you put a lock on the fence and throw the key into the river, you will have everlasting love. There are many gold shops along the bridge so that in conjunction with the legend makes this a very popular spot for Florentine proposals. Mike didn't put a lock on the fence to represent our love, but I think it's just because he didn't have one. At least that's what he told me... :)

Florence is an amazing city. There is so much to see and do. I don't think a trip to Italy would be complete without visiting Florence. And you might as well go to Pisa while you're there.