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Florence |
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This page and the next represent the craziest, most whirlwind day of our travels. Kara and I woke up early, checked out of our hostel in Rome. We hopped a train to Florence, where we visited David (Michaelangelo's, again, no pictures allowed) and wandered around the sites. We then hopped a train to Pisa, to see the infamous Tower, followed by a train to Milan to sleep. More on all that later- for now, enjoy Firenze. |
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This is Il Duomo of Florence. Little history lesson: Italy was not united until the late 1800's. Before that, it was all different regions. Even today, people will call themselves "Romans" or "Florentines" or "Venetians" rather than "Italians". During the renaissance, all of these regions were in competition with one another. Rome had the Pope, Florence had the art, Milan the business, Venice the trade. The leaders of each region, massively rich families, tried to outdo the others consistently. One way in which this manifested itself is through church-building. Rome had St. Peter's, everybody else had to go just as huge, just as ornate, elaborate, expensive. In Florence, they built this guy. Its entirely out of marble, in green and pink and ivory colors. The pictures are a big fuzzy due to my scanner and "paint" having issues with not-qiute-verticle lines. |
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LONG line of people waiting to go inside and up and around. I guess you can go up to the roof too, and its supposed to be sweet, but whatever. We were on a schedule. So we wandered by, took some pictures, and took off for the train. But its pretty. |
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The front entrance and part of the bell tower. |
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Close up and different perspectives of the front entrance. |
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Across the piazza in front of the church was another itty bitty chapel. These are its doors. That's gold, folks. |
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This right here is what I imagine to be the way to get around Florence. Yes, I suspect they're catering to the romantic notions of Americans, but whatever, it looks good to me! Next time, man. Next time. |
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