Florence

Santa Croce

September 22nd, 2017 by alephnaught

Santa Croce

We got up late and headed out to Santa Croce, which is a huge church built in the 1200s/1300s. On the way we had lunch at a lousy place (we were hungry and in a hurry, a bad travel combination).

Shopping, the Orgnassanti and the Oltrarno

September 21st, 2017 by alephnaught

Shopping, the Orgnassanti and the Oltrarno

We got out late (we’ve given up trying to get going early – being in an apartment makes it easier to hang around somehow). We walked down a few shopping streets, grabbed lunch, and found some really interesting stores (one that specialized in lighting and a rubber duck shop, for example). The lighting store (Controluce) […]

San Lorenzo, the Duomo

September 20th, 2017 by alephnaught

San Lorenzo, the Duomo

We got out a little earlier today. We started with San Lorenzo and it’s library (which was designed by Michelangelo). The cathedral’s face was also designed by Michelangelo but never applied so it looks quite raw from the outside. The line for the Duomo was short so we decided to walk through. To me, the […]

The Duomo Museum and the Medici Riccardi

September 19th, 2017 by alephnaught

The Duomo Museum and the Medici Riccardi

Yet another late start – it’s become standard, we get up and eat a leisurely breakfast and then go out for the afternoon. Today Aviva and I went to the Duomo Museum, which has been complete remodeled. It is now really modern and wonderful, they’ve got a multi-floor model of the Duomo showing key sculptures. […]

Santa Maria Novella

September 18th, 2017 by alephnaught

Santa Maria Novella

We got up very late and grabbed a quick lunch and headed to Santa Maria Novella. It’s a large church with great frescoes by Ghirlandaio (Michelangelo apprenticed with him) and Lippi. We also walked around the cloisters with severely damaged frescoes from Ucello. Then we shopped at Santa Maria Novella Farmacia which goes back to […]

Some sculpture at the Bargello and a failed attempt at Santa Croce

September 17th, 2017 by alephnaught

Some sculpture at the Bargello and a failed attempt at Santa Croce

As usual we got out late. We walked down to the Museo Nazionale del Bargello and checked out the sculpture, then tried to get into Santa Croce – we were too late, services had already started. So we shopped a little, had dinner and headed back to the apartment.

The Ufici

September 16th, 2017 by alephnaught

The Ufici

This day we had a 2P ticket to the Ufici, which means office in Italian. We got an incredibly slow start – my throat is still sore and Aviva didn’t sleep well. So we ended up rushing out at about 1:30, grabbed a fast lunch at Move On, a combination record store and pub. The […]

Shopping in Florence

September 15th, 2017 by alephnaught

Shopping in Florence

We got a late start – my throat is sore and scratchy and neither of us slept especially well. We decided to do some shopping, so we went to some stores Aviva identified, ending at Aviva’s favorite jewelry store and I at the Florence Apple Store. Aviva found all kinds of neat things including a […]

Finally made it to Firenze

September 14th, 2017 by alephnaught

Finally made it to Firenze

We set off on Sunday Sep. 10 – and made it as far as LAX. Alitalia moved our flight to the next day. And they did it very badly – we spent all day at the airport to learn that we should have just gone home and returned. They had no staff that knew anything […]

Leave Florence, arrive in Siena

March 23rd, 2009 by alephnaught

Leave Florence, arrive in Siena

We got up early, showered, had breakfast, and went to the train station. We got the 10:40A train to Siena. We arrived and found our hotel, Hotel Duomo. Its inexpensive, the rooms are reasonable size with a reasonable, workable bathroom, but no internet access; it turns out wireless doesn’t work well through thick stone walls, […]