Welcome to the Land of the Medici

Hank has chosen a great little hotel for us, about 4 blocks from the train station, but nicer than such venues usually are.

To the right is the door to our room - all 27 rooms have painted doors, most looking much more Italian!  The rooms are small, all right, but each has a bathroom (hooray!), with a wonderful, gushing, hot shower (hooray!), and the lobbies on each floor are furnished with sofas and chairs, with internet access all around.  Breakfast is the best yet.  Cheeses and cured meats and rolls and pastries, not to mention juice, real coffee and the like.  Let's hear it for Hank!

We got to the hotel about noon on Thursday; it wasn't half an hour later that we were out exploring the streets of Florence, starting with the Central Market, not too far from our hotel.  It appears to be Florence's version of our Granville Island, with endless fruits and vegetables (including fresh figs and dates and olives), wine, meats and cheeses.  To get there, we had to navigate narrow street after narrow street chock-a-block with stalls full of - leather goods!  Shoes, gloves, bags, in that glorious Florentine leather in all sorts of wonderful colours and colour combinations!  Hank is pretty indulgent of my endless "window" shopping (it is my reward for being indulgent of his endless smokin!.  I don't buy anything - another benefit of light packing is that there is not much room to carry anything home - but I love looking.  There is one red bag I have my eye on though.....

We wandered on to the Medici chapel, followed by the Basilico de San Lorenzo, and then the Baptistry, with the infamous Ghiberti doors.

  

These are not the originals - they were out to be restored (we ran into that a lot), but painstakingly made copies, which were still pretty spectacular.  After gaping for a while, like everyone else, we were off to the Duomo and adjacent museum, for more gaping.

Again, the photos can't possibly do justice to the size and beauty of the buildings, and I won't even attempt to try to list out the Michaelangelos, the Berninis, the Caravaggios, the Andrea della Robbias, and more.  They are endless, and I am not, after all, trying to be Rick Steves.  I does show, though, what one can do with endless money, power and faith! 

Suffice it to say, we were dazzled, and we haven't even gotten to the major museums yet!

So, on to Giotto's Tower!

More truth in advertising - we didn't climb to the top.  It is 440-odd steps, I've done it before (I was much younger then!), and by this time, both Hank and I were bushed.  It was too early for dinner for the Florentines, but we found a small hotel trattoria that was open, and catered to the hungry tourists.  It appears to be true, it is hard to get bad Tuscan food!  The tomatoes taste like tomatoes, the melons taste like melons, even the gelato tastes like it has had a real relationship with the original of the flavour it is touting!  Not to mention the wine!  (Hank, of course, is still drinking beer.  More fool he!)

I am about out of power on the Notebook, so will quit now.  Back later with Day 2, but before I go, a blanket apology.  In reviewing earlier blogs, I've noticed typos and misspellings, not to mention awkward picture placement.  Please forgive me (and it is me - Hank has provided headers and reviewed content, but I take full responsibility for any and all errors); typing on one's lap or in bed is not conducive to full care and attention, as you all know, I continue to be technologically challgened, and this blog site is not the most intuitive I've ever been on.  But I do want to keep sharing.  And will share some more, after I'm duly charged!