We left Rome mid-morning on a Wednesday by train. The trip to Florence few by in a just an hour and a half. Once we checked into our hotel and had a short rest we took off walking to see what suprises the city held for us.
A few blocks from the hotel we glanced down a street and saw a market so off we went. The market started near San Lorenzo Church and went on for blocks in several directions. Markets in Florence are awesome! Full of scarves and leather goods and plenty of touristy souvenirs.
When we had our fill of outdoor shopping we decided to make our way toward the Duomo. Although the church itself was built in the 13th century the facade (as it appears today) was not completed until the late 1800's.
A few blocks from the hotel we glanced down a street and saw a market so off we went. The market started near San Lorenzo Church and went on for blocks in several directions. Markets in Florence are awesome! Full of scarves and leather goods and plenty of touristy souvenirs.
When we had our fill of outdoor shopping we decided to make our way toward the Duomo. Although the church itself was built in the 13th century the facade (as it appears today) was not completed until the late 1800's.
Duomo - Santa Maria del FioreWe admired the exterior and then made our way inside the large church.
Looking up into the dome of the Duomo
Bell Tower of the DuomoOnce we finished admiring the Duomo we continued our explorations. We wandered through Piazza della Repubblica, Piazza della Signoria, admired local artists at work outside of the Uffizi Gallery, and suddenly we found ourselves at the Arno River. We glanced to the right and there was the Ponte Vecchio.
The Ponte Vecchio
A lone gondola under the Ponte VecchioThe Ponte Vecchio is lined mostly with expensive jewelry stores and (at least while we were there) very crowded.
A roof-top on the Ponte Vecchio as the sun was settingWe enjoyed the lowering of the sun near the river and then headed back towards our hotel room for a rest before dinner. We picked up a bottle of wine to take back with us for "happy hour". Soon we were ready for dinner. We walked back towards the city center and found a pizza take-out place where the pizzas looked delicious, covered with vegies and other yummy looking toppings...sadly they looked a lot better than they tasted. Oh well. At least we found out early on where NOT to eat. In spite of the less than wonderful food we had fun laughing and talking over dinner. Tired and happy we walked back to our hotel ready for a good night of sleep.
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