We started off the beautiful, hot day by visiting the San Lorenzo (right across the street from our hotel), the burial place of all the principal members of the Medici family, who were pretty much the DuPonts of Florence back in the day. We went to the gardens first and then inside the chapel where all the graves were. It did not surprise me that the ceilings were painted, but it still took my breath away. The ones in this chapel were of key points in the bible (Adam and Eve, Noah, Jesus Christ) and you had to turn slowly around to get every detail. Then in a smaller room were the statues that Michelangelo had made for the family to be placed in front of their graves. Before each grave was a sculpture of the person buried there and then two other sculptures on the side (they were called Night and Day and Dawn and Dusk). It was fascinating reading about what Michelangelo had in mind for each sculpture and his purpose for them. It really made the statues come alive... Unfortunately we could not take pictures, so we can only describe it for now... After the San Lorenzo, we headed over to the Dante Museum (the man who wrote "Divine Comedy" and "Dante's Inferno"). It was a small museum devoted to the history of his life and his process for writing what he did. I thought it was very cool, but hot. (There was no AC in the building... :D) We then headed over to this small, authentic (they did not speak english at all) book store full of old books. It was interesting trying to ask for specific things when we knew no italian and they no english. I ended up looking for different words in my italian dictionary (thanks Alison!) and pieced them together to try to make a sentence. Who knows what I said...but I think they might have understood some of it because we got what we wanted.. :) From the book store, we walked past the Santa Croce and got some more pictures. Our stomachs then informed us that it was time to eat, so we grabbed some ham, tomato, and mozzarella sandwiches from this cute little cafe and headed over to the Bardini Gardens near the Pitti Palace. We were not able to go see the Pitti Palace because we had a train to catch, but we were able to walk around the Bardini gardens. Since Florence is surrounded by hills, at the top of the Bardini Gardens you got this brilliant view of the whole city. It was quite a climb to the top, not to mention hot, but it was well worth it. We did not realize how big Florence was until we looked down upon it from the gardens. What a beautiful city it was, framed by hills of vineyards upon vineyards. We rested at the top and then prepared for our climb down the hill to do some quick shopping before we had to go to our train. (My dad headed over to some other gardens, Boboli Gardens, while we shopped.) We did not have much time, so Sarah and I shopped in the market place and learned how to bargain hard with Italian vendors. :) By the end, we had a few bags full of goodies from Italy and headed over to catch our train. Tired and hot, we were grateful for the 6 hour train ride and for the bed that awaited us in Morges. Florence was definitely a highlight and as well as the priceless memories we made there...
Some Pictures from Day 3:
^ The front of the San Lorenzo
^ The back of the San Lorenzo
^ The gardens in the San Lorenzo
^ Uncle John in front of the Dante Museum
^ John and Andy in front of the Dante statue at the entrance of the Santa Croce
^ About to climb to the top of the Bardini Gardens
^ The Bardini Gardens
^ The manor house in the Bardini Gardens
^ Sarah and Kelsey in front of the view of Florence at the top of the gardens
^ Kelsey and Andy in front of the view of Florence
^ the View... gorgeous!
The rest of these photos are more of just Florence itself....
^ I loved the tiny cars
^ An Italian jeep :D
^ Bikes were very common all throughout the city and were also parked in random places...for instance, hanging on a bridge over water.. :)
^ The police were everywhere, but it was not a creepy city...
^ One of the many plazas
^ Beauty Secrets...from the Dead Sea :)
^ more shots of Arno River
^ A little yellow pickup truck, so cute o_o
^ Corner lot...
^ Street painters
^ One of the many markets on the streets... Italy is famous for its leather, so it was everywhere! Smelled so good... :)
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