Florence - Oct 6-7
Day Two in Florence
We arrived in Rome in the late afternoon and met our bus.  After a dinner at
"Grotto Azzure" we were taken on a night tour of the sights.  Most of the
monuments were lighted since Palestine dignitaries were visiting..
Our first stop in Florence
was an overlook of the city.
We stopped there before
going to our hotel. Kathy
and I took the opportunity to
have our picture taken with
the city in the background.
The first afternoon was "free
time" so Kathy and I went
sightseeing on our own. Our
first stop was Santa Croce.
That is where the tombs of
Michaelangelo, Galileo and
others. The church was
undergoing renovation, but
much was still visible.
Piazza Signoria was our next
stop. We had a nice lunch at a
local restaurant (there are a lot
of them!!) Then we went to the
Piazza Republica (shown
here) to catch a cab back to
the hotel.
Day two started with a tour of
the Medici tombs in San
Lorenzo which is shown at
right. Inside the building are
the tombs of all the Medici
family. An especially notable
area was the chapel of
Princes and the Chapel of
Angels that contained many
sculptures by Michaelangelo.
Unfortunately no pictures were
allowed inside.
The building below is the
Baptistery and at left is the
Duomo (Cathedral of Santa
Maria Del Fiore).
Inside the Duomo.
In Piazza Della Signoria there are copies of
some statues like the David below. There are
also some originals like the "Rape of the
Sabine Women" at left. There is also a
beautiful fountain of Neptune.
We visited the Accademia to see the original
David by Michaelangelo, but no photos were
allowed inside.
We enjoyed a nice lunch just off
the Piazza. The pizza was good,
but Rusty got a seafood pizza
and it came with shells for a
topping!!
It was hard to take pictures
out of the bus, but I
managed to get a couple
like this one of the
Colosseum at right. We also
stopped at the Trevi
Fountain but it was really
crowded and it was hard to
get a good picture (we did
throw the coins in!!)