Firenze!

On Monday, I told you about our first day in Tuscany.

(Actually, there was a day I missed.  We arrived on Saturday, but pretty late in the day.  On Sunday, we rested, got our bearings, and walked into town to try to find toilet paper.  But, that's a story for another day.  Monday was Monteriggioni and Volterra.  And then, there was Tuesday and....)

.....FLORENCE!

It was time for our first day in Florence (a.k.a. Firenze)!!!

As I mentioned, last week, I was fortunate enough to meet up with my friend, Jenny, who currently lives in Switzerland.  She had to leave from the train station in Florence on Tuesday morning, so off we went in search of adventure and the train.

There's Jenny with the blue backpack, trying to figure out what track her train was on.  They didn't bother to hurry on posting the track number!  But soon, she was off!  BYE, JENNY!!

We left the train station and just started walking.  All roads seemed to lead to the Duomo!  I have to say, it's pretty amazing to walk around the corner and see this sight.

Or this one.  Like I said before, it's hard to take a bad picture in Italy!!  We waited in line for a short few minutes for an opportunity to go into the Cathedral, Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore.  Over the next weeks, we would do this a few more times.

This is one of my favorite shots from inside the Cathedral.  It is generally challenging to take pictures inside the churches because you are usually forbidden from using a flash, but the environment is so dark that you have to hold your camera very still in order to get a clear shot.  It took some practice and lots of blurry photos to get a few clear ones. 

Back outside.  I was fascinated by all the praying stations.  These awesome shrines just show up everywhere on the corners of buildings, or the middle of streets, or off to the sides of streets.  I thought they were cool and I knew the Chick would love them, so I took lots of pictures of them.

I know that I have posted a lot of Italian Cats, but there were also a lot of Italian Dogs.  Here's one now!  He was hanging out in a beauty shop.  As we walked by, he ran to the door!  WOOF!

The famous bronze Baptistery Doors.  This was the Baptistery where people like Dante and the Medicis were baptized.  Just sayin'.

Detail of the bronze doors.

Ummmm....this is ME!  On the steps of the Cathedral, living life.  Gripping my map for dear life.  Well, not really. 

And, random praying station just on the corner of a building.  As you read more about my trip (if you do) you will see lots more of these, trust me!

And so we came to the end of our first day in Florence.  We spent a few days here, so you will see some of these places again.  But now, it's time to go to.....SIENA!!!

Stay tuned for that trip next week.  A Rabbit Movie shall be issued forth for the weekend.