Footloose Finale in Firenze - Italy 5

I almost piked on my planned on an overnight trip to Florence, but boy, am I glad I didn't. It was fantastic. The town that founded the Renaissance, the home of Michaelangelo, Vasari, the Medici's et. al.... a great town to wander around with monuments and art aplenty. Too much to see in one day, but I tried...

BTW the above photo was not meant to be focusing on David's crotch - I was trying to get in the Palazzo Vecchio in the background - the Medici's house, and this was the only angle that worked. Honest. This is just a replica of the David, which is in a photo-free museum elsewhere in the town.

The Duomo, all decked out in marble.

Famed Bronze doors... but what in this town isn't famed?

Amazingly, unlike any other building I went into in Italy, the Duomo is quite austere on the inside - some large paintings and sculptures, but mostly bare walls and space for lots of people, ~30,000.

Details from the inside of the Dome. Another version of the Last Judgement.

View from the top

There are Tuscan hills with the typical tuscan yellow houses in the far distance - if you can see it through the mist

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Neptune, outside Palazzo Vecchio

David, posterior view

The type of large (~12m long) painting on the inside of the Palazzo Vecchio

Pre-reneaissance art

Ceilings

I had trouble plastering and painting my own ceiling to get just a smooth, white finish, so imagine doing this one... though I think you can hide a lot of blemishes with the busy detail.

This dude tends to pop up alot

More ceiling details

The Ponte Vecchio, again covered in gold shops. I was trying to replace the earring I lost waterskiing (or face-sliding) in Singapore. but most shops are owned by the same owner, so no competition, and definitely no bargains to be had.

On the ponte

South-side streets

The ugliest shoes I ever bought?

So as I said a couple of posts ago, I had big shoe problems that were temporarily overshadowed by shoulder issues. I had a couple of hours to kill on my first day in Rome, so I decided not to sleep but to shop. The problem was that it was about 2pm and as I discovered, the Italians basically siesta, closing the shops (and sleeping like I should have been?) until about 4. So I walked around for about 3 hours, getting more and more frustrated as my pain and tiredness were being added to by foot soreness, which I was unable to solve: most of the shoes on offer around $150-200 was above my budget. Eventually near the station I found shops open, and ended up finding the above shoes - mid priced, with the added advantage of not having shoelaces. They did the job pretty well, but for days I couldn't decide if they were the ugliest pair of shoes I've ever bought, or not. Now I've realised, they look like old man's shoes. But nevertheless, they worked a treat, especially in Florence where alone I basically didn't sit down for 11 hours. The thick sole also works well in the snow in Lulea,and even though I can tie my shoelaces now, I still wear them almost every day. So no complaints. Anymore.

More ugliness for the feet

So that was my trip. Then it was back home, to the comfort of what are definitely the ugliest slippers I've bought, but for $3.50 were a bargain! (Though perhaps not the cost of the hire car and petrol for the 300km round trip to Ikea and back). Again, they do the job: wall-to-wall carpet is very rare up here, and lino is cold.

My time in Italy was a blast: Thanks to Marco and family for their efforts and nursing, and to Chris and Ed for their organising of various bits and pieces in Rome, and to the others for their helping hands when I needed them literally.