Firenze in April

On Monday, April 6, Daddy and I went to Florence. We had a little trouble getting there, as the train we had planned to take was full. So, we took a regional train to Bologna and caught another Eurostar to Firenze. It delayed us about an hour, but not too bad. The weather was gorgeous, sunny and warm.

Monday afternoon we went over to the cathedral of Santa Croce to look around.

The front of Santa Croce. Note the abundance of tourists. Tourist season has definitely started now. There were many American high school and college kids on Spring Break.


The wooden ceiling inside Santa Croce.

The ceiling outside in the cloisters of Santa Croce.

We took a nice, leisurely tour, so it took most of the afternoon, and we didn't see much else on Monday. Tuesday morning, we walked over to the Duomo, but were deterred from going inside by the throngs of people in line. The Duomo is closed on Mondays, so apparently everyone tries to hit it first thing Tuesday morning.


The front of the Duomo and the masses of people milling around in the Piazza.

The back of the Duomo. They are in process of cleaning the outside of the building. Compare this picture with the one above. The front has been cleaned, and the back has not.

The Neptune fountain and other buildings on the Piazza della Signoria.

After our walk around the Duomo, Daddy went to tour the Galleria Accademia and see the David, and I went to the Duomo museum to see Michelangelo's unfinished Pieta and other works that have been removed from the Duomo itself. Daddy had booked the same tours that we took in February to see the David and the Uffizi Galleries. I met him for lunch and took the train back to Ferrara Tuesday afternoon. He took the tour of the Uffizi that evening, and went to an exhibit on Galileo at the Strozzi Palace on Wednesday before heading back to Ferrara.

To be continued...