Firenze

Firenze is the Italian name for Florence, Italy. We were in Florence for three days and two nights. It's quite a small city, with a ton of famous art and even more gelato!

The Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, also known as The Duomo. Duomo is the word for church or cathedral in Italian. It can be seen from the skyline in all directions and is built which seems to be within the center of the city. Whenever we wandered, if we found the Duomo, we could get back to our hotel. 

It's made of absolutely beautiful marble; pinks, greens, and creams.

The ceiling of The Duomo; a beautiful dome painted with cherubs and scenes from the Bible. 

Prayer candles burning within The Duomo. 

The sun setting on the city. 

Street art with chalk! Absolutely brilliant!

Just a taste of the leather market! It was huge! I could have bought everything, but had to limit myself to a beautiful leather jacket...darn :)

The view from the world famous Ponte Vecchio Bridge. The bridge has over 90 shops on it, mostly jewelers.

Ponte Vecchio.

Me on the carousel in central Florence. We could have ridden for hours, the old lady in the booth didn't seem to care either way :)

cappuccino :)

There are statues EVERYWHERE in Florence!

This arrangement of statues is just outside and around the corner from the Uffizi Gallery, which holds some of the most famous works from Botticelli, Michelangelo, Raphael, da Vinci, and Rembrandt. My favorites were by Botticelli; 

Primavera, and 

The Birth of Venus. They were both absolutely magnificent! Beautiful colors and whimsical qualities.

An artist set up outside of the Uffizi gallery selling beautiful original water colored paintings. 

The gelato is beautiful in Italy, obviously it's all in the display! I loved the tiramisu, but the kiwi, coconut, melon, and pistachio were also pretty great :)

An old man in the train station. I just thought he was so old and so beautiful that I had to sneak a picture :) Plus, it was kind of funny he was using a cell phone!