Florence - I Have A Room With A View

The hotel where I am staying is really lovely – I'm on the third floor and have a beautiful big window that overlooks the courtyard and the pool – though the sun comes in strong in the afternoon so I keep it closed, especially as the air-conditioning is not what I would call strong ... I decided to sleep with the windows open and I woke to beautiful cool weather and a most magnificent view – the sky was a gorgeous blue, the sun was coming up behind me and the orange and terracotta colors of the buildings across the way were reflected back in the most brilliant hues with the spires of churches in the distance. I was in Florence and it was starting to feel magical.

With a renewed sense of wonder, I headed out to find my vision of Florence. And always one to want perspective of where I am, I climbed the bell tower first (thought I was climbing the dome but as I was three quarters of the way up, I saw the folks on the dome in the distance ... close but no cigar ...). The view was magnificent and really showed how tightly packed Florence was – as well as some lovely roof top gardens. Something I discovered in Siena which is also done in Florence is the concept of taking artifacts off of churches and putting them into museums and then putting replicas back on the churches. Initially it struck me as more than a little odd – but then I realized, this is their art history and especially when pollution was much worse, they had to protect it ... short of building the museum around the church, this was the best solution. So I was off to the museum for the cathedral – there were many beautiful pieces but the ones that really struck me were a wood carving of an emancipated and distressed Mary Magdelene (her hairy looked matted and greasy – the delicacy of the sculpture was just incredible), one of Michelangelo's last sculptures which almost breathed life and then the carved doors from the Baptistery know as the Gates of Paradise – the literal 3D depth of the carvings were breathtaking - I've never seen anything like it. (Unfortunately, I'm having trouble uploading pictures at the minute which is a real pain ...) Sculpture has definitely been the art form I've discovered this trip – I really enjoy it – though in limited quantities ... point me in the direction of the famous piece and don't make me walk through the halls of heads on wall ...

I then headed back into the land of the lemmings – to one of the main squares, the Piazza della Signoria. But the initial glimpse of The David (replica) in his natural surrounds as well as the wonderful museum quality sculptures in the outdoor shaded Loggia definitely made it worthwhile. Then I'm wandering through the maze of streets towards the river and I start wading through lemmings ... and there it was, the Ponte Vecchio – I knew it was famous but had no idea what it was like until I saw it. It was nice but I have to say, didn't knock my socks off ... the lemmings didn't help the charm factor unfortunately.

By this point, I was fairly tired – it had been a full day and I'd been constantly on my feet ... but there was one more museum that had peaked my interest in the guidebook ... the Salvatore Ferragamo Museum – yes, that's right, a museum of shoes!!!! What I hadn't appreciated at all, was his inventiveness – he had hundreds of patents – including that of the wedge heel. Now ladies, I know you'll agree with me when I say, thank you Salvatore, thank you! Definitely one of my favorite museums of the trip :-)