Trip to Europe - Part 2: Walking in the Rain in Florence

We used up all our good weather in Amsterdam; we walk eight miles through light and heavy showers. Luckily, we can rest in our rooms at the south end of the Piazza della Repubblica, with a knock-out view of the Duomo and the Campanile of Santa Maria Fiore. We meet our friends Peter and Pam, also celebrating an anniversary, and spend the day getting to know the Old City.

Florence is easily the most beautiful city I've every visited. The streescapes are full of colors and texture: narrow alleys open into wide piazzas, tall vistas end with archways and obelisks. We start at the Duomo, entering the piazza near the Baptistry, the shapes and towers are layered upwards. It's very hard to capture the colors of the stone in the clouded light.

The cornice gallery of the dome itself appears to be half apart; Peter and I wonder at exactly how such a dismantling is achieved when we find the one section of the archway still intact at the base of the tiles (Later we find out from old pictures that the cornice was never completed). It's also hard to capture the scale, but of course, that strucure is enormous - how did they get all that stone up there?

The cathedral and the surrounding buildings are a bit of a surprise; the church does not stand as an object in the square, but forms the sides of a series of long, wide, and winding streets. Crowds form a series of perpetual queues to enter the Duomo, enter the Baptistry, or climb to the cupola.

From the Duomo, we walk to San Lorenzo, and take refuge in the courtyard during a downpour. The market stalls surrounding the cathedral also provide some protection as we try to move ahead.

We then walk to Santa Maria Novella, a beautiful facade fronts a large open piazza. Donna insists we visit the pharmacy around the corner, and we are amazed to find one the most stunning retail spaces you might ever wish to see.

We cross the Arno just ahead of another deluge, and make our way slowly, dodging raindrops: Santa Maria del Carmine, Santo Spirito, the Palzzo Pitti. We stop for gelato before we cross back over the Ponte Vecchio, surprisingly intimate compared to some other sites of the city.

We finish our walk down the arched gallery along the Arno, through the courtyard of the Uffizi and into the Piazza della Signoria, with the statue of David at the base of the Palazzo Vecchio. We had hoped to spend the day getting to know Florence. Our feet are soaked, but our hearts are full.

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