I love this picture taken in front of
Firenze's (Florence's) City Hall. This was the original location of
Michelangelo's famous sculpture of David which has been moved inside to one of
the museums in order to protect it from acid rain. There are about a dozen other
magnificent original sculptures still out in the square for the public to
enjoy.
You will notice The little red butterfly thing on the top right of the picture: that is our guide, Chiara's wand with which she guided us through the vast multitudes of tourists in these squares.
And here he is, the outdoor copy
of the big boy himself. If you look carefully, you will see a sparrow perched on
David's sumptuous curls. There is no such thing as reverence in the animal
kingdom.
I thought that this was an interesting view of the Duomo, the Cathedral whose dome I can see from my hotel window. The white, dark green and pink marble on the facade is something like I've never seen before. We are used to seeing marble in church but not along the whole outside of the structure.
Ron, the only guy in our group, climbed the stairs of the bell tower to get some shots -- quite a feat as there are A LOT of stairs and he only had 10 minutes to make it to the top and back before they closed.
Another interesting fact about this neighbourhood is that the next street over, behind the Duomo, houses Roberto Campolmi Filati, the largest yarn store in Italy. We have generally been a bit disappointed with yarn shopping so far (but not, I must stress, with shopping in general, which is magnificent) as it appears that, as I was told back in Canada, that the vast majority of fine Italian yarns are exported and arrive on North American shores without making much of a wave in their home country.
Bikes and scooters are EVERYWHERE in urban
Italy. I included this picture, not so much to show a typical bicycle from
Florence, but to show the creativity of some Italian wannabe biker dude.
Finally, these are some of the lovely ladies
that we met for an international Knit and Chat at Essere, a designer
clothing boutique run by Alaria, who welcomed us along with Mirella, Linda and
Donna, with whom we connected via Ravelry before leaving Canada, and ex-pat
American sisters, Anne and Mary (shown here). It was all great fun and we so
appreciated being invited to join in their regular Tuesday evening
group.
Pisa on Wednesday.
You will notice The little red butterfly thing on the top right of the picture: that is our guide, Chiara's wand with which she guided us through the vast multitudes of tourists in these squares.
I thought that this was an interesting view of the Duomo, the Cathedral whose dome I can see from my hotel window. The white, dark green and pink marble on the facade is something like I've never seen before. We are used to seeing marble in church but not along the whole outside of the structure.
Ron, the only guy in our group, climbed the stairs of the bell tower to get some shots -- quite a feat as there are A LOT of stairs and he only had 10 minutes to make it to the top and back before they closed.
Another interesting fact about this neighbourhood is that the next street over, behind the Duomo, houses Roberto Campolmi Filati, the largest yarn store in Italy. We have generally been a bit disappointed with yarn shopping so far (but not, I must stress, with shopping in general, which is magnificent) as it appears that, as I was told back in Canada, that the vast majority of fine Italian yarns are exported and arrive on North American shores without making much of a wave in their home country.
Pisa on Wednesday.
