Future Updates Unkown?: Florence (pt. 1)

This weekend I traveled to Florence with a good 30% of the program here in Rome. We toured such sites as the Duomo, the Medici chapel, San Lorenzo, the Ufici, the Ponte Vecchio and more. Florence is a beautiful city with many churches that are different than Rome's. They have a completely different style and their own coloration to them that gives them a completely new identity from the rest of Italy. Other things I noticed differently about Florence is the proliferation of American students in the city. Italian is not necessary in the least bit in this city, as it was in some cases more common on the streets than the native tongue. The food is more traditional with a higher content of meat in it than a typical Roman fare... Translation: they have steak and porkchops there. (Beautiful) I did not have many of these items due to their cost and the cost of entry at every church and other tourist site (you don't pay to see any churches in Rome, Florence had an entry fee then a separate fee for everything else...) It was not very welcomed by such thrifty personalities as John Graham and I, we felt especially cheated by the city of Florence, the birthplace of modern banking.

Photography was not allowed in several places we went to, so pictures are not available for the Ufici and the interior of all churches. I am sending out an email to one of my compatriots who went to the David instead of the Ufici for pictures of the David (security was lax and he got them somehow... no such luck for me.)

Enjoy!

The line at the Ufici... All two hours of it. John and I did see at least one painting by every famous Italian artist. (Da Vinci, Raphael, Botticelli, Reni, Caravaggio and much more...)

The ponte Vecchio (old bridge). Those are shops on the bridge and a covered walkway by the Medici family. They were rich and uppity and did not want to walk with commoners, so they built a skyway that goes for pretty much 1km to get them from place to place. Pretty ridiculous.

The Duomo at night. (Duomo is cathedral and baptistry plus a campanile)

The duomo at dusk.

Statue for Dante, writer of the Inferno.

Gellato in Florence, more beautiful but just as tasty.

Lovers write their names on locks and put them on fences near the Ponte Vecchio. Rumor has it that if it stays on until your next visit, then you are in love! (Andy couldn't find his lock, but he also is seeing someone else.)