Florence, Italy
Trip Start
Jul 01, 2006
1
6
13
Trip End
Jul 17, 2006
We stayed at Hotel Aurora. I don't like that we have to leave our passports with the hotel personnel during our stay but it is hotel policy as we were told. We had a nice size room. It is close to the train station. We stopped by an internet cafe and emailed our friendds in the US. Then we went to the information center. The people there were very helpful and knowledgeable compared to the people in the information booth in Rome. We explored The Duomo and this time we did not climb the Giotto's Bell Tower. We also looked at the replicas of the Gates of Paradise at the entrance of The Baptistry. We toured the Museu dell'Opera Del Duomo where we saw the original panels of Ghiberti's "Gates of Paradise", the works of Donatello, Luca Della Robbia and one of Michelangelo's Pieta sculptures. We also explored the Church of Santa Croce where the tomb of Galileo, Michelangelo, Donatello and others where housed. The Monument to Dante Alighieri (poet) is outside Santa Croce Church. We admired the outside architecture of the Palazzo Vecchio, the sculptures of Hercules and Cacus and the replica of David at the entrance to the Palazzo Vecchio and the Fountain of Neptune. By the time we were done touring the Uffizi, we were tired and dizzy that we decided not to go to the Academia. We explored the San Lorenzo Market instead where we got some Italian leather goods.
