Florence - Monday
Refreshed, on Monday we were up and at em. Of all the places we're talked about driving, we were unanomously advised to stay away from Florence! We were fairly well cowed. But then we looked at our city map, and saw that the main road from Poggibonsi went directly into the south side of Florence, and there were several marked parking areas along it. We decided to chance it that far, and made it to the Place de Galileo (an odd widening of the road where tour busses can park on one side and cars on the other). Trying to get a parking ticket from the machine, however, it was just spitting our coins right back at us. We were giving up to move to another location, when the service guys pulled up to withdraw the cash from the machine. So we walked back over there, and pantomimed trying to get a ticket with coins, and them popping back out. Confused looks, and I waived them over - inserting a coin as I did. PLUNK, it immediately was deposited in the return hamper. I did it again. These guys were no dummies - they caught on right away, and pulled out a 1 euro coin from one of the guy's pockets and tried it. PLUNK.
Oh my - shrugs. Try a different coin. I was afraid this could go on for some time, then one of the guys opened the cover again, and poked at a few things... and voila, the coin was accepted the next go round. YEA, we could stay.
Unfortunately we could only stay until 3:30 as that was how much change we had on us - but we saw we were right on the bus line, so should be no problem - we'll just zip back at 3:30 and feed the meter. But at this point we didn't know what bus we needed nor had tickets, so we walked towards the near by Piazalle Michelangelo - which has a spectacular viewpoint over Florence.
This was on our way to the Piazalle.
Florence's Duomo: a testament to the great confidence the Florentines had of their problem solving capabilities. The cathedral was begun in 1296 (with a geat hole in it's roof) -- nearly 150 years before the technology to build a dome to cover that span was known. Filippo Brunelleschi is the architect who devised the ingenious dome-within-a-dome design and completed the dome in the 1430s.
Here we are!
So, there isn't much to do at the Piazzale, other than look over the city. But after much more rigamarole than was strictly necessary, we finally managed to purchase bus tickets (silly us -- why didn't WE think to ask at the silver trinket and soda cart in the midst of a dozen others to purchase bus tickets??) But we were on our way.
It was 11 by the time we hit town center, and ready for a recharge.
Interestingly, just across from this random cafe we stopped at, was a wine bar we figured had to be the one that Katherine -- way back at the castle -- had been talking about. La Botte:
We didn't remember the name, but she had described a bar that had a bunch of bottles of wine hooked up to spigots. You could buy a certain number of credits, and then dispense yourself a pour from what ever bottle you wished to try - the number of credits required for each was of course commisserate with the cost for the wine. She said it was a fantastic way to try a lot of wines you wouldn't ever splurge for a whole bottle -- in fact she said some were bottles that sold for many hundreds of dollars. But wow - sounds like a cool idea.
A beautiful wood carving shop we passed.
The Plazzo Vecchio: The Medici's City Hall
Florence was probably the city were we found our Rick Steve's guide book absolutely indespensable. He had listings of what museums were closed when (and let me tell you, it is a convoluted story!) He alerted us to the fact you can reserve times to enter the really popular attractions - such as the Uffizi Gallery and the Academia where the original David is... None the less even a week prior we we too late to make reservations. But he also pointed out that there is tons to see in Florence that doesn't typically have long lines, and some of which are right out in public squares.
The Loggia, in front of the Palazzo Vecchio is one such fantastic place. Originally a covered patio intended as a speakers corner type spot, the Medici's decided that great art was of more value than free speech, and so filled the space with sculptures.
Benvenuto Cellini's Perseus - having just slain Medusa
This copy of David stands outside the entrance to Plazzo Vecchio in the spot where the original stood for a long time, before being moved indoors to protect it from the elements.
This picture reminds me that Dave's cowboy hat garnered attention a lot of places. "Hey Tex-as!" he got here. "And you must be a Cow Boy, eh?" Hee.
Neptune's fountain also outside the Plazzo Vecchio
Wandering south towards the Arno River:
Monica, in front of the Ponte Vecchio. This shopping bridge has been a Florentine fixture since the 1500s when the gold and silversmiths were installed into the booths by the Medicis. They still predominate.
But the bridge has been here since Roman times. Story is that the Nazzi commander presiding over Florence when they invaded, was instructed to destroy all the bridges. He did - except this one. He saved the Ponte Vecchio by demolishing the buildings on either end making the bridge impassable. We didn't get back here to cross the bridge until the next day.
Because we were on our way to visit the Galileo Museum! This giant zodiak / sun dial is in the plazzo in front. No photos allowed inside, but it was three floors of a dizzying display of thousands of scientific instruments - quadants, globes, astrolabes, pendulum clocks, Galileo's telescopes and a huge display case of these fantastical and beautiful blown glass contraptions which were thermometers and barometers. It is just unfathomable these fragile instruments have survived.
Armilliary spheres were huge models of the universe as the Greeks understood it - many concentric layers of rings and gears and markings, all designed to explain the heavenly bodies with a geo-centric universe. They have one amazing example of an armilliar sphere - that must be 8 feet in diameter? No photos allowed, but you can see it on their website here:
http://catalogue.museogalileo.it/object/ArmillarySphere_n04.html
Though sadly the grandeur and scale aren't conveyed well by that photo.
The museum was fascinating, but for the vast amounts of display after display after display, I did find it a bit over whelming in the Quantity area and under whelming in the telling me how these items were put to use. I think they are enhancing it with more explanatory materials of the sort of rotating video clips that are in English and interesting.
Never the less, it was 3:00 and time to pop back to the car to feed the meter.
Yeah, well and hour and a half later, we got there. Thankfully no ticket. We made mental note to have a full day's change for Tuesday so we wouldn't have to run back to the car mid day.
Segue back 2 years to our trip to San Fransciso 2009. On one of our walks there, we ended up at Grace Cathedral in Nob Hill. I enjoyed the Cathedral, but was entranced by the doors, known as the Giberti Doors.
I'd long forgotten about the connection, until we got to the Babpistry doors just across from the Duomo - designed by Lornezo Ghiberti.
Designed at the dawn of the Renaissance, some aparently say it was these doors that opened the age of the Renaissance. With the added depth, perspective and realism that dawned in Renaissance art, it's an amazing tranformation to see in the art and these door panels are exemplary.
The doors are known as the Gates of Paradice; each panel depiciting a biblical scene.
And - of course these too are replicas, the originals being displayed in the Duomo Museum. So we headed there, only to find out that they were currently undergoing restoration. So alas, two sets of copies and we have yet to see the originals. But the copies are pretty darn spectacular.
Window shopping - just had to snap this picture for the kennel!
The Duomo Museum is just what it sounds, a museum housing much of the art that has been brought out of storage in the Cathedral to put on display.
Michaelangelo's Pieta
Said to be the centerpiece to the tomb that Michaelangelo was designing for himself late in life... One wonders about the audacity it takes to decline Michaelangelo this right and to display his monument elsewhere.
Luca della Robbia's Cantoria
The panels around the box depict Psalm 150 (oh so appropros for the choir box!), and were conveniently copied and displayed at eye level.
They were beyond charming!
We got a yummy dinner just off the square around the Duomo, for a special tourist fixed price menu that was really very reasonable (26 euros for the two of us). Afterwards we of course found gellato, then headed homewards. Unfortunately we missed signaling for the little-used bus stop where our car was, so ended up being taken way down the windy hill road, necessetating us walking back up it. *grumbles*
But the sidewalk was clear and beautifully lit. The roadside plants meticulously maintained... it kinda turned out to be a magical walk. (granted, it would have been MORE magical had we had to walk DOWN instead of UP... but hey)
Oh my - shrugs. Try a different coin. I was afraid this could go on for some time, then one of the guys opened the cover again, and poked at a few things... and voila, the coin was accepted the next go round. YEA, we could stay.
Unfortunately we could only stay until 3:30 as that was how much change we had on us - but we saw we were right on the bus line, so should be no problem - we'll just zip back at 3:30 and feed the meter. But at this point we didn't know what bus we needed nor had tickets, so we walked towards the near by Piazalle Michelangelo - which has a spectacular viewpoint over Florence.
This was on our way to the Piazalle.
Florence's Duomo: a testament to the great confidence the Florentines had of their problem solving capabilities. The cathedral was begun in 1296 (with a geat hole in it's roof) -- nearly 150 years before the technology to build a dome to cover that span was known. Filippo Brunelleschi is the architect who devised the ingenious dome-within-a-dome design and completed the dome in the 1430s.
Here we are!
So, there isn't much to do at the Piazzale, other than look over the city. But after much more rigamarole than was strictly necessary, we finally managed to purchase bus tickets (silly us -- why didn't WE think to ask at the silver trinket and soda cart in the midst of a dozen others to purchase bus tickets??) But we were on our way.
It was 11 by the time we hit town center, and ready for a recharge.
Interestingly, just across from this random cafe we stopped at, was a wine bar we figured had to be the one that Katherine -- way back at the castle -- had been talking about. La Botte:
We didn't remember the name, but she had described a bar that had a bunch of bottles of wine hooked up to spigots. You could buy a certain number of credits, and then dispense yourself a pour from what ever bottle you wished to try - the number of credits required for each was of course commisserate with the cost for the wine. She said it was a fantastic way to try a lot of wines you wouldn't ever splurge for a whole bottle -- in fact she said some were bottles that sold for many hundreds of dollars. But wow - sounds like a cool idea.
A beautiful wood carving shop we passed.
The Plazzo Vecchio: The Medici's City Hall
Florence was probably the city were we found our Rick Steve's guide book absolutely indespensable. He had listings of what museums were closed when (and let me tell you, it is a convoluted story!) He alerted us to the fact you can reserve times to enter the really popular attractions - such as the Uffizi Gallery and the Academia where the original David is... None the less even a week prior we we too late to make reservations. But he also pointed out that there is tons to see in Florence that doesn't typically have long lines, and some of which are right out in public squares.
The Loggia, in front of the Palazzo Vecchio is one such fantastic place. Originally a covered patio intended as a speakers corner type spot, the Medici's decided that great art was of more value than free speech, and so filled the space with sculptures.
Benvenuto Cellini's Perseus - having just slain Medusa
This copy of David stands outside the entrance to Plazzo Vecchio in the spot where the original stood for a long time, before being moved indoors to protect it from the elements.
This picture reminds me that Dave's cowboy hat garnered attention a lot of places. "Hey Tex-as!" he got here. "And you must be a Cow Boy, eh?" Hee.
Neptune's fountain also outside the Plazzo Vecchio
Wandering south towards the Arno River:
Monica, in front of the Ponte Vecchio. This shopping bridge has been a Florentine fixture since the 1500s when the gold and silversmiths were installed into the booths by the Medicis. They still predominate.
But the bridge has been here since Roman times. Story is that the Nazzi commander presiding over Florence when they invaded, was instructed to destroy all the bridges. He did - except this one. He saved the Ponte Vecchio by demolishing the buildings on either end making the bridge impassable. We didn't get back here to cross the bridge until the next day.
Because we were on our way to visit the Galileo Museum! This giant zodiak / sun dial is in the plazzo in front. No photos allowed inside, but it was three floors of a dizzying display of thousands of scientific instruments - quadants, globes, astrolabes, pendulum clocks, Galileo's telescopes and a huge display case of these fantastical and beautiful blown glass contraptions which were thermometers and barometers. It is just unfathomable these fragile instruments have survived.
Armilliary spheres were huge models of the universe as the Greeks understood it - many concentric layers of rings and gears and markings, all designed to explain the heavenly bodies with a geo-centric universe. They have one amazing example of an armilliar sphere - that must be 8 feet in diameter? No photos allowed, but you can see it on their website here:
http://catalogue.museogalileo.it/object/ArmillarySphere_n04.html
Though sadly the grandeur and scale aren't conveyed well by that photo.
The museum was fascinating, but for the vast amounts of display after display after display, I did find it a bit over whelming in the Quantity area and under whelming in the telling me how these items were put to use. I think they are enhancing it with more explanatory materials of the sort of rotating video clips that are in English and interesting.
Never the less, it was 3:00 and time to pop back to the car to feed the meter.
Yeah, well and hour and a half later, we got there. Thankfully no ticket. We made mental note to have a full day's change for Tuesday so we wouldn't have to run back to the car mid day.
Segue back 2 years to our trip to San Fransciso 2009. On one of our walks there, we ended up at Grace Cathedral in Nob Hill. I enjoyed the Cathedral, but was entranced by the doors, known as the Giberti Doors.
I'd long forgotten about the connection, until we got to the Babpistry doors just across from the Duomo - designed by Lornezo Ghiberti.
Designed at the dawn of the Renaissance, some aparently say it was these doors that opened the age of the Renaissance. With the added depth, perspective and realism that dawned in Renaissance art, it's an amazing tranformation to see in the art and these door panels are exemplary.
The doors are known as the Gates of Paradice; each panel depiciting a biblical scene.
And - of course these too are replicas, the originals being displayed in the Duomo Museum. So we headed there, only to find out that they were currently undergoing restoration. So alas, two sets of copies and we have yet to see the originals. But the copies are pretty darn spectacular.
Window shopping - just had to snap this picture for the kennel!
The Duomo Museum is just what it sounds, a museum housing much of the art that has been brought out of storage in the Cathedral to put on display.
Michaelangelo's Pieta
Said to be the centerpiece to the tomb that Michaelangelo was designing for himself late in life... One wonders about the audacity it takes to decline Michaelangelo this right and to display his monument elsewhere.
Luca della Robbia's Cantoria
The panels around the box depict Psalm 150 (oh so appropros for the choir box!), and were conveniently copied and displayed at eye level.
They were beyond charming!
We got a yummy dinner just off the square around the Duomo, for a special tourist fixed price menu that was really very reasonable (26 euros for the two of us). Afterwards we of course found gellato, then headed homewards. Unfortunately we missed signaling for the little-used bus stop where our car was, so ended up being taken way down the windy hill road, necessetating us walking back up it. *grumbles*
But the sidewalk was clear and beautifully lit. The roadside plants meticulously maintained... it kinda turned out to be a magical walk. (granted, it would have been MORE magical had we had to walk DOWN instead of UP... but hey)
Labels: Travel
posted by Monica |
4:01 PM
3 Comments:
Piazzale Michelangelo, the best view of Florence!
I like cowboy-Dave with statue-David :)
Hugs
Roby
Monica,
You visited the Piazalle Michelangelo, the one with the marvelous view of Florence. Did you know that we camped in that parking lot in 1974? We drove from Switzerland down to Florence some time in the spring of 74, maybe around Easter time. Next to the Pizalle is a nice camp ground that Mom & Dad had pleasant memories from staying there in 1961. Well, we showed up there, but the camp ground was still one week from opening for the summer. Oops. But several other people had the same problem. We simply set up the tent in the parking space next to the car. As you look at the city, it would be the last couple of parking spaces far to the right. When we visited there a few years ago, I pointed out the space to the kids. We spent the night admiring that great view of Florence. It would have been just after your fourth birthday.
Keith - that's awesome. Yes the campground is still next to the Piazalle. Mom mentioned something before our trip about having camped on the hill overlooking Florence - but I certainly didn't make the connection, nor did I know the story. Too Funny!
And gosh - what an amazing view to camp at!
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