This year I had an amazing opportunity to travel with some ladies that I know to a women's conference in Tuscany. Due to the way flights go in and out of Bishkek and Dushanbe, we flew in and had a day before the conference started. We spent our extra day in Florence! I cannot wait to return and take the family. Florence is an incredible city and even with all we saw in a day, I think we could have easily spent 3 or 4 there and been busy all day long.
This was our view, waking up at our guest house in Florence.
After breakfast, we were out and on the road at 8am, walking to the far side of the city to see the famous Ponte Vecchio Bridge.
The streets were quiet and still at that time of the morning, very peaceful.
Cute shops and flower displays were all around. I instantly liked Florence!
We walked past the Duomo, before anyone else was really up and around for the day. We were scheduled to visit it on our way back into town.
The markets, just uncovering and setting up for the day.
On the bridge. None of the shops were open yet, but again, a great view and a quiet morning.
Locked up displays and shops gave us time to explore and enjoy all the neat wood and iron workings showing the fleur de lis, the city crest of Florence.
Walking along the side streets, we got to look back and enjoy seeing the Ponte Vecchio Bridge.
Our first museum of the day was the Palazzo Vecchio with the copy of the David statue in the courtyard.
Walking into this 13th Century palace was impressive. The artwork and carvings were very ornate and lovely.
Looking at some old ceiling art and maps on the walls.
An additional courtyard before entering the palace.
We were able to take a short archaeological tour and see some of the underground workings of the palace.
The very large gathering hall with its artwork...
And the paintings on the ceiling...
And the famous statues at the front. What a palace!
We were able to go into some of the different living areas and see how the Medici family lived.
A stair way up to another part of the palace.
Cosimo de' Medici left his mark on the floor tiling.
From the second floor, the view down into the gathering hall.
There were several cabinets like this and I took pictures of all of them!
Look at the close up...these aren't painted, they are individual pieces of marble or shells cut and put together to make pictures.
Another close up that I really enjoyed.
Dante on the door. He's another famous person from Florence.
One of the prettier rooms...leading into the next amazing room...
The Map Room!
My family would have loved this room. Super cool old maps!
A view out across the city from the tower at the Palazzo Vecchio. You have a great view of the Duomo from here.
Lots and lots of stairs, but my friends were troopers!
More stairs, but this time I got in the picture as well.
Quick lunch break on the street. Stopped in and got a slice of Italian pizza...
and, couldn't resist the cannolis.
Watching the street artists at work was pretty incredible also.
Made it to the Duomo!
Some of the doors on the church are breathtaking. Turns out the doors you see outside are replicas. The real doors are in the museum, and we saw those a bit later in our day.
First, we took a quick look in the Baptistry.
Again with the doors...replicas though, to withstand the elements and people touching them.
Waiting in line to enter to go to the top of the dome.
There were so.many.stairs...463 going up and then coming back down.
Great view though! Totally worth it!
The view from the top of the Duomo. The weather couldn't have been any more lovely!
Our view from the top of the Duomo.
The real doors, in the Duomo Museum, protected behind glass.
These are all the original statues and items from the church and baptistry...the ones we see when touring nowadays are replicas.
The tile work is truly beautiful.
I would love to have columns like this outside of my house some day.
Old music manuscripts with Illumination letters. There was some water damage, but we were amazed at the clarity in these books.
Mock-ups of the dome and the history of how it was constructed.
Then, it was gelato time! Strawberry Cheesecake and Dark Chocolate. It was super tasty!
I just liked seeing the bikes all over town.
Street artists.
A guy on an accordion playing Toccata and Fugue in D minor!
Such a lovely afternoon in Florence to sit around and listen to music and people watch.
Coming back on our earlier street artist, he's just about done!
We had just enough time to make it to the Art Gallery and see the original statue of David by Michelangelo.
It was quite a collection of sculptures and busts as well.
Another one of Michelangelo's Pietas...he had several versions.
At the Gallery, there is also a Music Museum and so we took some time to look through that exhibition.
Then, a sit down dinner after all of our walking! Traditional Italian lasagna.
This restaurant was a block away and around the corner from the Art Gallery and was recommended to us by a guy we met in a book store.
The next morning we were off and on a bus to head north to Tuscany for our conference.
The view from our hotel room in Tuscany!
Some of the ladies I got to meet up with at the conference.
One of the afternoons a friend and I took a hike, and this was our view coming back....the hotel we stayed at was very nice!
After one of the evening sessions we took a group picture.
The night view and moon from our room.
One of the many gifts we received while at our conference. These ladies sure knew the way to our hearts, because it sure does seem like the concept of the chocolate chip is a purely (North?) American thing. I haven't seen them for sale anywhere else!
When our conference was finished, we found ourselves back in Florence for one last night. All the museums were closed, but we were able to take a walk back to the Ponte Vecchio Bridge and window shop a bit.
And get a picture of ourselves by the river.
...while we watching guys crewing along the Arno.
Walking back up the main street it was so different to see the Duomo at night and with a crowd of people all around it.
We enjoyed a sweet cafe dinner on the street.
I found a lovely Italian leather purse (it's a gorgeous blue color with the Florentine fleur de lis) as my take home gift.
Final breakfast at the guest house.
Just a view of where we ate breakfast each morning in Florence.
And, the thing to top it all off...as I was getting on the plane from Istanbul back to Bishkek, my name flagged as my ticket was scanned and the guy said, "You're being upgraded." I was in shock and just stuttered "Thank you!" as I walked down the jet way. Sure enough, seat 3E was in business class as opposed to my original seat of 6D. Fresh lemonade was served and I had extra leg and seat room and dinner served in courses. It was my first time in business class and it was a super special way to finish my week in Tuscany! What a blessing!
