September 2007

    Day 6 - Monday, September 24, 2007

    No sleeping late today.  The ship docked this morning at 7:00a in the port city of Livorno (Florence isn't on the Mediterranan).  Our tour required that we present ourselves at 7:45a for bus transer to Florence.  We met out tour guide Sondra:

    .. and were assigned to Bus #15.

    We drove about an hour from Liverno to Florence (or Firenze as it says on all the signs in Italian).  Just outside the city we had a half-hour stop at a leather factory (part of the deal with the tour bus company).  They had lovely things but, thankfully, we bought nothing (Yes!)

    The bus let us off about a ¼ mile from the Piazza di Saint Croce for our "on your own" walking tour of Florence; this will also be our rallying point for our departure back to the ship at 3:45p:


This is the Church of Saint Croce; you'll see more of it.


This is the usual milling about before being set free.

    As you can see, today was another beautiful day in the series of great weather days on our trip so far:

    Off this square, streets led in many directions.  Old Florence is quite small with shops, centuries-old architecture, shops, cafés and shops:

    Did I mention "shops"?  One of the most unusual was this toy shop with a lifesize wood-carved motorcycle:

    Beautiful statuary was everywhere:

    ..including this replica of Michelangelo's famous "David":

    "Replica", you say?  Replica?!?  Isn't the actual David by Michelangelo right there in Florence?"

    Why, yes, yes it is.  But it's in the Accademia Gallery -- and the Gallery is closed on Mondays.  The main thing I really wanted to see in Florence... bummer...

    Here's a photo taken by friend Winston this summer so you'll see what the "real" David looks like:


Thanks, Winston!

    Everywhere you look is a postcard-quality view of 500-700 year old and older architecture:

    One of the largest structures in Florence is the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore and surrounding structures:


The Bell Tower; 414 steps take you to the top


The Bapistry

    And, finally the dome of the cathedral.  You can climb to the top of the dome (Duomo) if 493 steps don't daunt you.  I don't know if you can make them out, but there are people looking out from the cupola:

    The "old bridge" (Ponte Vecchio) across the Arno River is lined with fine jewelry shops and, at the end, is the Bar Ponte Vecchio where we stopped and rested for a while with a few beers (me) and a few glasses of white wine (Gael).  We'll try to get a better picture tomorrow in Rome, but here's today's photo for the grandboys:

    Here's a view across the Arno River to the south side of Florence:

    We rejoined our tour guide and the busload of our compatriots and returned to the ship at Livorno.  We spent a bit of time in the hot tub, joined our tablemates for dinner -- and readied ourselves for our 7:45a departure tomorrow morning for Rome.
 
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