Florence - Gelato, Sculptures, & Leather Markets

We were welcomed to Florence by our Florentine grandmother at our hotel. She was an extremely nice elderly lady who rents out six rooms in her home. We weren't able to communicate very much with her, but we felt very welcomed by her!

We arrived a little later in the day so our first day in Florence we weren't able to do very much. We spent some time walking through the San Lorenzo Market. Street vendors lined blocks of streets and pretty much every stall sold some sort of Italian leather product. We had a great time walking through and seeing all of the purses, wallets, belts, jackets, and suitcases all made out of leather.

Next we went and walked around the Duomo Cathedral (pictured above). The Duomo was originally built with a big hole in the roof, awaiting the technology to build a dome because it wasn't around yet. A local architect came up with the solution and the dome was built in 14 years. In our opinion, the outside of the Duomo was much more impressive than the inside.

We started off the next day by walking all the way across the city (it's only about a 20 minute walk) to the Ponte Vecchio. This is Florence's most famous bridge. The bridge is lined with extremely fancy jewelry stores that we could never afford to shop in but it was fun to walk and look.

On our way to the bridge, we saw a Christian Evangelical group singing and then performing a mime/dance on a piazza (we think of Isaiah 53). Just as they got to the part where Jesus was going to be resurrected and clothe the people around Him in white, the police came and shut down the performance. The group seemed to have written permission to perform in the piazza, but the police didn't care. It was really interesting to watch, especially the timing of how it all went down.

Close to the Ponte Vecchio is the Uffizi Gallery. Don't quote me on this, but I'm pretty sure that the Uffizi Gallery has been open as a museum since the late 1500's...that's crazy! The most famous work in the gallery is Botticelli's "Birth of Venus." We also saw works by Leonardo, Raphael, and Michelangelo (all the ninja turtles).

That night we went for a walk and got gelato at one of the best Gelateria's in Italy. We had caffe and tiramisu flavor. It was delicious! It was also really fun seeing Florence light up at night.

Our last day in Florence, we began the day by going to the Centrale Market. Here they sell every part of the cow, make and sell fresh pasta, vegetables, and other groceries. Our senses were going crazy walking around the market. One minute we would be surrounded by whole raw chickens, the next we would be all around greens, and then we would be all around fish! It was fun but we were glad to get out of there.

Next we did what any person visiting Florence has to do and went to see Michelangelo's sculpture of "David." "David" stands 17-feet tall in the Accademia. He was meant to stand on the roof of the Duomo but was moved indoors for his protection. It was amazing how detailed every part of him was, from his fingernails to the veins in his hands and feet. But he definitely doesn't look like a 17 year old in the sculpture.

We ended our time in Firenze with a delicious dinner and one last walk around the city.


Now we are on our last train in Europe (and we are thoroughly enjoying the business class seats we didn't have to pay for)! Pretty crazy that we've been traveling for 8 weeks today. Roma here we come!