Life is Fun in Spain: Florence & Siena

We arrive in Florence!

(We were there September 10-15)

I have previously mentioned that Nicholas LOVES Fanta, right?

He is not afraid to ask for it on a continual basis.

See how happy this kid is when he gets one? (...and this is just a mini can!)

One thing we have been appreciating are the huge, amazing doors,

each having their own uniqueness.

I did not take a photo of this cathedral...Santa Maria del Fiore from the front, but here are some photos as we were standing in line to climb up to the very top of the dome (duomo). The DUomo was engineered by Brunelleschi

Then, we entered the church and climbed the 463 stairs to get to the top. First, you climb to see the inside of the dome up high...

Then, you climb through the dome...between the interior and exterior. It was dark, sweaty, and crowded, but a fun experience.

Photos from the top/outside of the Duomo!

(looking down the dome)

Next to the church, there is a very famous DOOR! It is called the Door of Paradise and was considered the masterpiece of Ghiberti, showing his ultimate skills as a goldsmith and sculptor. Pretty amazing.

Hello, crazy kid!

We just thought these huge piles of gelato were awesome. However, we have learned that these eye-catching spectacles are not the best gelato and use plenty of artificial colors and flavors. We have sort of become gelato snobs. There are SO MANY gelaterias (you can't walk down one commercial street block without seeing at least one, but most of the time 3 or 4 of them!). We learned that typically the best gelato shops keep their gelato in metal tins in which you can't "see" the flavors. These shops have natural, home made, fabulous gelato. That became our mission...find the BEST gelato wherever we were...and we usually did! However, Ray would get a little tired of us going round and round, wandering through the streets to find a recommended gelateria. The boys and I were persistent! :)

Here is Florence on the Arno River in the evening.

From Florence, we took a day trip to Siena. What a super quaint and cozy little town, with narrow streets (mostly pedestrian) and charming shops. We want to spend more time here when we come back someday.

Here is the Piazza del Campo in Siena, with a sloping plaza where people sit, picnic, and/or "lie out" like they are on the beach. Here they hold a famous horse race called the Palio de Siena, held twice each summer.

OK, another cathedral! This one was quite spectacular...so many different areas inside with stories and history. Here is the outside...

And the inside...

The ceiling in the library of the cathedral

Back outside for a final pose...

Back to Florence! In the Accademia Gallery we finally saw the REAL David by Michelangelo!

(We had seen several copies already in both Rome and Florence.) Stunning, really.

When asked about Italy, Nicholas always comments that he saw too many busts. He says that at first, it is super cool to see some busts of people, knowing how ancient they are. But once you have seen hundreds of them, they are no big deal anymore, and he honestly doesn't care to see another. So, already having this view, we went into an area of a museum with oh-so-many more busts! We had to laugh and take photos, which represent just a fraction of what was there.

An old, hand printed/painted book...before printing presses, of course. :) They are so detailed and artistic...just phenomenal.

Found a farmer's market in Florence. We were impressed with the massive zucchini!

Loved this booth, too

A daytime shot at the Arno River...

And weren't we HAPPY that we happened to be in Florence when/where they had the last stop of the European Gelato Festival! Here is the gelato being made in the large window-ed trucks.

We bought gelato festival passes for each of us to have samples. That's a HUGE sample Nicholas has! That was the biggest sample, and we really thought we would happily devour all the gelato our passes got us...5 samples and a gelato smoothie. I could not even use my last two sample tickets, or the smoothie. Jacob was the only one to use and eat them all!

There were so many flavors to sample...mostly very unique ones, and some more basic.

Happy, happy boys...being allowed to eat SO much gelato at once!

The gelato booths to get samples.

At the gelato festival, there was a Ferrari that you could rent for 100 euros for 10 minutes.

No, we did not do it!

Steps away from the gelato festival, there were great views of the city and countryside.

There's the Duomo we climbed up/in!

We were on the hunt for good Italian food in each city we went to and were not very successful in finding it. We finally discovered great food in Florence at this grand, airy and gourmet "central market" with a good variety of counter service restaurants. We watched our food being made from scratch, with the freshest and most flavorful ingredients. We were in heaven!

This was NOT at the market, but just a shop on the street. French fry pizza? Really? I just need to comment on the french fries. They are everywhere, served as a side with everything it seems. Once we ordered omelets, and they came with french fries!

Just toolin' down the street toward our excursion at the BIG museum...Uffizi Gallery.

Some of the first things we saw in the Gallery...BUSTS!

I took photos of some of the interesting ones.

Before going to the museum, we researched and studied paintings and artists

together. We each also studied some individually and shared our research with one another when we came across them at the museum. This process gave so much more meaning and context to what we were looking at. Here is the famous Birth of Venus by Botticelli.