Tuesday, May 22 - from Venice to Florence
We left Venice in the morning, just after 8AM, but it took us until nearly 9AM to get to our bus. For those who wondered why we packed lightly, this is one of the reasons why. Walking from the center of the city to a canal stop for the bus transport to take us to the area where buses park carrying all your baggage, well that's a good workout. And the heavier you packed, the more tired you get moving out of Venice.
Once on the bus, we travelled for a while before stopping for our first break. Many of you may know that our son Matthew is something of a soda pop connoisseur. He has told us often how good Fanta Lemon is and how its very hard to find on our side of the Atlantic. This next image is in honor of him!
We stopped for lunch at an Auto-Grill. These are upscale food/fuel stops along the highways. You can get quick deli food, salads and sandwiches, even some hot food. There is also the convenience mart and a nice dining area.
Below is the view out our hotel window in Florence. We are just around the corner from the old central part of the city where all the old churches and architecture are.
The church in the photo below is the same as the large building in the top right of the image above. It is the Church of Santa Maria Novella. The church is situated just across from the main railway station named after it. It was the first great basilica built in Florence. Construction started in 1279 and it was opened in 1360.
A building nearby (I cannot recall it's name), has niches all around it with statues of various historical persons of old Florence. The statues in the niche pictured below represented four main merchant types in the old city of Florence, or Firenze as the Italians call it.
We saw the view below of the Palazzo Vecchio at one end of the Piazza de Signoria. This is like the town hall of Florence. They have their own copy of Michaelangelo's David out front along with Bandinelli's Hercules and Cacus status.
In Holland, we became very used to seeing bicycles everywhere. In Florence, it seems that Mopeds and Scooters rule the road. Here is a short stretch of the street with a huge number of them parked at the curb.
We visited the Galleria della Accademia before dinner. This is where Michaelangelo's David is along with many other famous sculptures including Michaelangelo's "Prisoners". The image below shows part of one side room with many statues and busts all up and down the walls.
The photo below is of a painting of the old and dying Leonardo di Vinci.
We had the most wonderful time at dinner this evening. We ate at a great little Italian Ristorante not very far from our hotel. We had a sample plate (among other things) with gnocci with cream sauce, ravioli with meat sauce, and penne with some zippy tomato based sauce. It was all just so luscious! We had a really fun time with the folks at our table, especially a lady from Canada and her husband - Eileen and Ken. We are having such a great time!
