Showing posts with label Italy - Florence 2005. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Italy - Florence 2005. Show all posts
Thursday, November 17, 2005
Florence - Day 3
First stop is inside the duomo of Florence, Santa Maria Della Fiore to take a better look at Vasari's fresco
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Florence - Day 2
It's back to the market and this time I'm armed with the camera. We start our morning at one of the coffee bars in the market - a perfectly made cafe latte that has Paalo grinning. It doesn't take much prodding to get me to order another.
The market is on two levels, the upstairs mostly containing fresh fruit and veg while the lower level houses the delis, butchers, poulterers, fishmongers, wine-stores and general merchants.
An impressive array of dried Porcini.
Various vinegar's, oils and nuts
Many varieties of Olives
Where do you start at this deli?
One of the stalls we particularly loved is the dried fruit stall that had the largest variety I've ever seen
The dried strawberries have to be tasted to be believed!
Enough of the food porn - time to explore a bit more of Florence.
We decide to make our way to the Uffizi and see if we can get in. Our journey takes us past that icon, Santa Maria del Fiore, the Duomo of Florence.
The Bapistry
Looking at the height of that tower you can understand why a fleet of these are stationed just beside it
It's not just coincidence, when you go into the tower itself, before you even buy a ticket, there's a whole slew of health warnings and notifications of who shouldn't attempt the climb.
Palazzo della Signoria also known as Palazzo Vecchio was built between the 13th and 16th centuries.
I must say the Italian police are wonderfully dressed.
It's not the original, it's a copy but it's positioned in the original location in front of the Palazzo della Signoria.
Located nearby is the Loggia del Lanzi (Orcagna) originally built to hold public ceremonies is now home to 15 sculptures
Left: Perseus with the head of Medusa by Benvenuto Cellini
Centre: two lions sit beside the steps of the Loggia, one dates from Roman times and the other is by Flaminio Vacca
Right: Menelaus supporting the body of Patroclus
Hercules beating the Centaur Nessus (1599)
Rape of the Sabine Women by Jean Boulogne (also known as Giambologna)
Rape of Polyxena by Pio Fedi (1866)
You hear a lot about the queues at the Uffizi but just like yesterday at L'Accademia, there aren't any queues.
Photography isn't allowed inside but we did stop at the rooftop cafe for a nibble and a couple of photos of the view
You get an idea of how large the dome is on the Duomo.
You also get a better view of the Palazzo della Signoria
The rough exterior of the Church of San Lorenzo
My last shot of the night - a view from our window.
The market is on two levels, the upstairs mostly containing fresh fruit and veg while the lower level houses the delis, butchers, poulterers, fishmongers, wine-stores and general merchants.
An impressive array of dried Porcini.
Various vinegar's, oils and nuts
Many varieties of Olives
Where do you start at this deli?
One of the stalls we particularly loved is the dried fruit stall that had the largest variety I've ever seen
The dried strawberries have to be tasted to be believed!
Enough of the food porn - time to explore a bit more of Florence.
We decide to make our way to the Uffizi and see if we can get in. Our journey takes us past that icon, Santa Maria del Fiore, the Duomo of Florence.
The Bapistry
Looking at the height of that tower you can understand why a fleet of these are stationed just beside it
It's not just coincidence, when you go into the tower itself, before you even buy a ticket, there's a whole slew of health warnings and notifications of who shouldn't attempt the climb.
Palazzo della Signoria also known as Palazzo Vecchio was built between the 13th and 16th centuries.
I must say the Italian police are wonderfully dressed.
It's not the original, it's a copy but it's positioned in the original location in front of the Palazzo della Signoria.
Located nearby is the Loggia del Lanzi (Orcagna) originally built to hold public ceremonies is now home to 15 sculptures
Left: Perseus with the head of Medusa by Benvenuto Cellini
Centre: two lions sit beside the steps of the Loggia, one dates from Roman times and the other is by Flaminio Vacca
Right: Menelaus supporting the body of Patroclus
Hercules beating the Centaur Nessus (1599)
Rape of the Sabine Women by Jean Boulogne (also known as Giambologna)
Rape of Polyxena by Pio Fedi (1866)
You hear a lot about the queues at the Uffizi but just like yesterday at L'Accademia, there aren't any queues.
Photography isn't allowed inside but we did stop at the rooftop cafe for a nibble and a couple of photos of the view
You get an idea of how large the dome is on the Duomo.
You also get a better view of the Palazzo della Signoria
The rough exterior of the Church of San Lorenzo
My last shot of the night - a view from our window.
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Florence - Day 1
There's two good things about our place in Florence - its a 5 minute walk from the station and a minute from the Central Market.
We meet our hostess at the door and it's then a four flight climb to our apartment - we're going to get fit on those steps!
After settling in we scurry off to get to the market before it closes. You won't believe how I've been craving the ability to be able to cook my own food and Paalo has been looking forward to having me cook his dinner ;)
Needless to say it's an assault on the senses and accompanied by the pack horse Paalo, we certainly stock up.
As soon as we are back in the apartment we spread out our goodies - yes, possibly a bit excessive but it was all too good.
Taleggio, real buffalo mozzarella and Italian butter
the best cherry tomatoes and baby potatoes, real milano salami and D.O.P mortadella....
and then there's the real Parma
I think we're going to enjoy ourselves here.
In the afternoon we decided to explore a bit of the area and headed off towards the Galleria dell'Accademia. Originally planned as more of a scouting exercise, we were most pleased to discover the absence of any queue. We decided to take advantage of the situation and entered.
There's no photography allowed inside - it's amusing to the many ways people try to take sneaky photos. It's amazing how they now know how to turn off the flash, funny they never seem to manage that at the places that don't allow flash photography.
The major attraction here is Michelangelo's David - it's positioned behind thick safety glass after a hammer attack back in 1991 which managed to damage a toe. A side effect of that attack was that they finally could analyse the marble and found it came from near Carrara, until then they didn't have a clue.
It was odd seeing something so recognisable up close and then realising there are things about the statue you never picked up in the photos. You never noticed the objects held in his curled fingers or the way the sling sits upon his back.
We meet our hostess at the door and it's then a four flight climb to our apartment - we're going to get fit on those steps!
After settling in we scurry off to get to the market before it closes. You won't believe how I've been craving the ability to be able to cook my own food and Paalo has been looking forward to having me cook his dinner ;)
Needless to say it's an assault on the senses and accompanied by the pack horse Paalo, we certainly stock up.
As soon as we are back in the apartment we spread out our goodies - yes, possibly a bit excessive but it was all too good.
Taleggio, real buffalo mozzarella and Italian butter
the best cherry tomatoes and baby potatoes, real milano salami and D.O.P mortadella....
and then there's the real Parma
I think we're going to enjoy ourselves here.
In the afternoon we decided to explore a bit of the area and headed off towards the Galleria dell'Accademia. Originally planned as more of a scouting exercise, we were most pleased to discover the absence of any queue. We decided to take advantage of the situation and entered.
There's no photography allowed inside - it's amusing to the many ways people try to take sneaky photos. It's amazing how they now know how to turn off the flash, funny they never seem to manage that at the places that don't allow flash photography.
The major attraction here is Michelangelo's David - it's positioned behind thick safety glass after a hammer attack back in 1991 which managed to damage a toe. A side effect of that attack was that they finally could analyse the marble and found it came from near Carrara, until then they didn't have a clue.
It was odd seeing something so recognisable up close and then realising there are things about the statue you never picked up in the photos. You never noticed the objects held in his curled fingers or the way the sling sits upon his back.
