Europe 2007 - Part 3 - Tuscany

After leaving the Haswells in Northern Italy, we drove to Tuscany (in the rain, for several hours). Luckily, the rain let up right when we arrived at one of the nicest campgrounds in the world: two swimming pools (one Olympic sized and one indoor), a water slide, restaraunts, grocery store, nightly wine tasting at the wine specialty store,...The next morning we went into Florence. Tour books usually devote an entire volume just to Florence (like Venice) so it is impossible to see or appreciate it in one day.



Florence is, for example, the birthplace of the Renaissance and also has a leading role in the history of Italy. The primary attraction in Florence is the cathedral complex including the baptistry. The first picture here is of the complex. The buildings are so tall, and the
surrounding square so relatively small, that it is
difficult to get a piture of everything at once.
The building on the left (in the foreground) is the
baptistry.






Shown here more fully, it dates from the 6th to the
9th centuries. This puts it right in the middle of the dark ages when (suposedly) nothing much was happening. As our tour book says "it might as well have dropped from heaven".














But, the building is best known now for the "gates of paradise" - the double doors on the east of the building (shown here with the kids).

















About 50 meters to the east is the cathedral or "Duomo" with Brunelleschi's famous dome. Although it looked very impressive to us, the critics don't say much about the cathedral itself (especially compared to Sienna's) but the dome is another story. This is a marvel of construction and
the most famous landmark in Florence. You can walk between the two concentric domes and get to the top. This is where Nathan and Katie are in the picture below.

















Here the kids are asking dad "Are you done with the history lesson yet? When's ice cream?"












Another landmark in Florence is the Ponte Vecchio, the bridge shown behind the kids.










Returning from there, we stopped in front of the Uffuzi (one of the most important art museums in Florence) to buy some art. We bought two water colors from this man then watched as he painted some others.







Unfortunately, we do not have a picture of the best experience we had in Florence. At the end of the day, while walking back to our car, the heavens opened up and it rained in buckets. We were soaked and quickly ducked into the nearest open door that turned out to be a sort of deli. A woman named Serena took us into her care and we had the most wonderful time trying to communicate with signs and broken Italian (William just added "o" to the French words he knew.) They sold wine from a tap and put together a meat sampler plate and bread for us.



The next day, we went to Sienna and San Giminiano. Sienna and Florence used to be enemies in the late middle ages. Sienna is much smaller, quieter, and (we think) a must-see in Italy. It is known especially for its catherdral shown here and below that, the main square.






















Once a year, the main square is converted to a race track and each neighborhood has a jockey that represents it. We've heard that it is taken VERY seriously. The race is shown in a picture here (not ours - unfortunately).






The last picture from Sienna is a great one of the kids at a playground.













San Giminiano is a place that we had heard of many times before. In the middle ages, the wealth and power of Tuscan cities was judged, in part, by the number of towers. San Giminiano is one of the better preserved cities and has something like 17 remaining towers. I think it had something like 70 in its prime.








Besides the towers, there are many quaint stores, houses, even doors like this one we liked.