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Our third day in Italy — the second in Florence, for those of you keeping track — was forecast to be the last day we’d have without rain for the rest of the week. So once again outdoor exploring was the order of the day. After all, among many other virtues, museums generally provide you with a roof and walls to keep out inclement weather.
Our first goal was the Piazzale Michelangelo, east of our hotel. It offers great views of all of Florence. Along the way we ran into interesting old buildings and a number of grottoes. Florentines seem to love grottoes; you find them all over the place.
When we finally got to the Piazzale Michelangelo, the views did not disappoint. It also had a cool statue, and a beautiful American tourist willing to pose for pictures.
We hiked down from the Piazzale through the Giardino dell Rose, the Rose Garden. Since it’s October, most of the roses were long gone. But there were a few hangers-on to give you a sense of what the place must look like in the spring.
The garden had some cool statues in it, too. I think something like either of these two would be a fine addition to our backyard.
We saw several interesting things as we strolled across the Arno and into the downtown area. Like this interesting view of the Ponte Vecchio and one of the more colorful statues we’ve seen so far in Florence.
But we were particularly surprised to stumble across an example of an American cuisine you don’t see all that often outside its native Texas.
But the biggest surprise was when we stumbled upon the Piazza della Signoria on our way to our final destination of the day, the Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore, aka the Duomo (“dome”) because of its very large red dome. Piazza della Signoria was a a very large and very popular square filled with huge statues, mostly depicting classical heroes.
There was also this guy, Cosmo Medici, the first of the famous Medici family dynasty to rule Florence. Only he wasn’t actually a warrior, from what I could find; just a banker and a clever politician. But I guess if you strike it big as a community leader you get to recast yourself as whatever you want. So why not a powerful warrior on horseback?
We also saw this little character, who better be careful or he’ll attract the ire of Florence’s cats.
Santa Maria del Fiore, when we finally arrived, was as impressive as its reputation. The pictures don’t do it justice because the cathedral is just too damn big to fit into a single image.
After this we went back to our hotel. Stopping, of course, for cappuccinos, because why wouldn’t you? But as we were crossing the Arno we spotted a beautiful reflection of a cathedral in the river. Here are both a normal and a posterized view of the scene.
