Saturday, April 9, 2011

Days 79-85: Land of Cathedrals, Chianti, and Conductor Strikes

Last week was much of the same. All work during the week, and not much free time for other things. On Thursday, after class, however, we headed to the airport to catch a plane to Rome hoping that we would eventually end up in Florence, Italy later that night.

On a side note.. It may not have been the best idea to travel the weekend before much of our work in school was due, but we had a blast and it was definitely worth it.

Anyway, as I was saying, we were expecting to get to Florence that night. Well, due to a little strike by train workers in Italy, we got stuck in Rome for the night and we had to catch a 6 AM train the next morning. At the time we weren't happy, but I ended up seeing the sunrise over Tuscany so I guess that was pretty cool. :)

Here is what we saw over the weekend in Florence and Pisa!

View of the Florence Duomo, from the terrace at our hostel

Vespaaa...

Front facade of the cathedral

Geometric floors that looked 3D!

Interior view of Brunelleschi's dome

What is this, a church for ants?... haha Ok it doesn't really apply but I thought it was funny

Walking up in the dome!

Florence!

The stairs were pretty crazy...

Like I said, crazy.

It was pretty high up

Beautiful views though

Close-up of the fresco in the dome

The painting was really amazing

This picture was totally illegal, but I had to.... Michael Angelo's David Statue


Santa Croche Cathedral
Galileo's Tomb

Michael Angelo's Tomb

So many frescos!

And there are more...

Brunelleschi's Cloister

Palazzo della Signoria
Exterior of the Ufizzi Gallery

That is a lot of padlocks.

Headed toward the Ponte Vecchio!

Ponte Vecchio

The shops on the Ponte Vecchio, a little too expensive....

Palazzo Piti

Leather Market

Add caption

Pisa!

Yep, that sure is leaning...

Up close!

Leaning Tower and the Cathedral of Pisa

Front facade of the cathedral

Main nave (with wooden roof)

Dome over the crossing with a ray of light shining in

There were so many different spaces

A ray of light shines directly on a tomb in the cathedral floor...I am pretty sure that was planned.
Relaxing on the lawn on an amazing day!

Texas meets Pisa...
Now on to my attempts at taking cool Leaning Tower Pictures. I think I did ok...

Take #1

Take #2, still trying to hold it up...


Which one is better? haha

Well that was my trip to Tuscany! It was really amazing and really beautiful. I even got to surprise visit the other A&M students that are studying there. There little town is pretty awesome. Anyway, I know this is late, but there is alway the cliche saying, "better late than never", that will make it all better. :) 

Hope everyone is surviving the drought in Texas :/...

Until next time...

Un abrazo,

Seth 

Micah 6:8

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