florence

March 31st, 2009 by alephnaught

Many Italian tourist attractions are getting more savvy

We’ve been traveling to Italy for years (my first trip was 9 years ago).  We’ve noticed that tourist attractions are getting more savvy. For example, most churches and museums no longer allow photography inside, but they have nice full-color books available for purchase (when they don’t have a book they should allow photography – pet […]

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Florence

March 22nd, 2009 by alephnaught

Florence

We got up a little later and haven’t rushed around this morning; its Sunday and so most things open later today. Walked by a funny window for lingerie (apparently a big seller in Florence given how many shops sell it here). There were some kids using pastels to draw copies of famous art works on […]

Prato and Florence

March 21st, 2009 by alephnaught

Prato and Florence

We got up pretty early, got cleaned up and are ready to take the train to a couple towns outside of Florence. Its another cold day but at least today it looks mostly sunny. We took a train from Santa Maria Novella to Prato. Prato is the home of biscotti, the famous hard, twice-baked cookie […]

Florence

March 20th, 2009 by alephnaught

Florence

We both took sleeping pills; this is one of our tricks to switch timezones, stay up as late as you can and then take a sleeping pill to help you sleep through the night. We got up and had breakfast; the hotel has a great buffet breakfast including fresh eggs and bacon. That little girl […]

Florence

March 20th, 2009 by alephnaught

Florence

We woke up much too early and ran ragged all day. After breakfast, we walked by a painted facade and decided to shop at the open market near Piazza Republica. It was really cold (it only got into the 50sF and was really windy) so Aviva bought some purple globes and I bought some half […]

October 23rd, 2007 by alephnaught

More paper models!

I built two more paper models, one of the Duomo and the other the Campanile, both in Florence. I also started a web page on my paper modeling hobby. I made two more paper models, which I bought on eBay and from Daedalus Books (a good overstock and discount on-line bookstore). The models are of […]

October 1st, 2007 by alephnaught

Gates of Paradise

We visited the Gates of Paradise exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago. We went to the Museum of the Art Institute of Chicago to see the exhibit “The Gates of Paradise.” The show includes art work and three of the panels of the east doors of the Bapistry in Florence; these panels are considered […]

Florence

May 19th, 2007 by alephnaught

Florence

Today we started walking towards the Orgnissanti. We stopped at a print shop from which Aviva bought a print of grotesques the last time she was in Florence – unfortunately, no small ones so we passed. We went into the Orgnissanti, which has works by Ghirlandaio and Botticelli, who is also buried there along with […]

Florence

May 18th, 2007 by alephnaught

Florence

We were going to go to Pistoia today, but we decided we’d moved around enough. And, we didn’t sleep well last night – getting to bed (for us) late due to the noise outside didn’t help. We’re changing rooms today to move to the rear of the hotel – not a nice view but much […]

Florence

May 17th, 2007 by alephnaught

Florence

After breakfast, we started walking towards the Museo Horne, an art museum near Santa Croce. The museum has a number of interesting works, including a Giotto. We then had lunch at Trattoria Il Bargello, Borgo dei Greci 37/r; it wasn’t anything to write home about. Then we shopped a bit – Aviva bought more angels […]