Anne and Mike shopping on the Ponte Vecchio

Looking in the jewelry shops.

Mike's Italian language lesson for Saturday.

Birre.  noun, beer

Gigante.  adjective, bigger than your head

Correct usage:

Q. What can I get for a fistful of euros?

A. Dua birre gigante.

Sightseeing on the Ponte Vecchio

Mom ducking away from the camera.

Mary Fran and I on the Ponte Vecchio 

Some apartments on the Arno River as seen from the Ponte Vecchio.

Outside the Duomo

Mary Fran and Mom being entertained by some street musicians, father and son.

The musicans are joined by another member of the family who busts out some moves.

Florentine family transportation.

The Duomo

The Duomo, a church that began during the middle ages and was finished during the Renaissance.

Detail from the facade of the Duomo

The bell tower of the Duomo

Another detail of the facade.

The doors of the baptistry of the Duomo, dedicated to St. John the Baptist.

After the Uffizi

Dinner at Trattoria Mossace, a place recommended by our Uffizi guide.  It specialized in Florentine home cooking.  Notice the wine bottle, a full litre.  Empty.  That was the white wine.  The red wine is not shown.

The cooks and waiters at Trattoria Mossace.

A street near our hotel, closed off so a trattoria could put up tables.

The inside of a piazza behind a walled estate near our hotel.

Uffizi Gallery

Outside the Uffizi Gallery which contains some of the greatest art from the Renaissance.

The Medici palace next to the Uffizi.

The Duomo as seen from the Uffizi.

More Santa Croce

A monument to Dante Aligherri.  His body is elsewhere.

The tomb of Nicolai Machiavelli

The main altar with a crucifix by Giotto

Tombs of Florentine families beneath the church

The garden at the church.

Some famous tombs

The church of Santa Croce in Florence in which most of the families of Flrence are buried.

The tomb of Galileo.

The statue that inspired the Statue of Liberty

The tomb of Michelangelo.

Detail of Michelangelo's tomb.

David

I didn't take pictures inside the Academy of Art, so this is the best picture of David.  it's a bronze reproduction in Michelangelo's park above Florence,  In the back ground is Tuscany.

On the way to the Academy of Art

Mary Fran and Anne checking a map for directions to the Academy of Art.  It was just around the corner.

A fountain in the piazza near the Academy.

Another view of the piazza.

Mike and Mary Fran strolling down the main street of Fesoli (in ancient time, Thessaly) a town in the hills above Florence in the heart of Tuscany.

Another view of Fesoli.  We had drinks at a bar overlooking Florence and Mike learned that iced coffee in Italy is not like the iced coffee at MacDonald's.  We had dinner at a little trattoria in the town where I had a veal cutlet that was just a thin piece of breaded veal.  We finished up with a late night bus ride through Florence on the top of a double decker.

Save the date.  In 2015 we're biking through Tuscany.

City of Florence

The Ponte Vecchio over the Arno River in Florence.

Detail of decorations on a building in Florence.

Florence

The Hotel Arizona in Florence.  It was in the Jewish section of Florence, next door to the huge synagogue.

The rooms were a lot smaller and not as classy as the hotel in Rome.  But, we didn't spend much time in the room anyhow.

A street scene in Florence near the hotel.  Typical of Florence, narrow streets, buildings closing in and people getting around on bikes and scooters.

Hostaria Costanza

Dinner at Hostaria Costanza.  This was the best food at that point.  Friendly waiters.  Mike found this place by eavesdropping on a conversation between the bartender and some guests at the hotel.  Mary Fran acquired a taste for altar wine and biscotti.

St. Peter's

Mary Fran, Mom and Anne at St. Peter's.

Aview of Vatican City and Rome from the Vatican Museum.

The Pieta in St. Peter's.  This is the best picture I have of the Pieta.

Bernini's Canopy.

The Pantheon

The Pantheon, an ancient Roman temple converted to a Christian church.

An obelisk in the Piazza in front of the Patheon.  The Romans looted more Egyptian treasures than the British.

Another view of the obelisk outside the Pantheon, this one showing the shops and apartments around the piazza.

The interior of the Pantheon dome with the opening that makes it possible.  This is the largest masonry dome in the world.

The tomb of the painter Raphael in the Pantheon.  Also interrred in the Pantheon is the tomb of Victor Emmanuel, the last king of Italy.