We were away early this morning into the town of Florence. Again it was very hot and humid so we were grateful for the early start before it got too hot. We were taken to a very famous shop, Peruzzi, a well renowned family of many years who do the most beautiful leather goods. The owner who was explaining it all to us was a very funny man and a consummate sales person as well. He picked a couple of the ladies out and tried some of the jackets in them. What was amazing, is he chose exactly the right style and size for these women. Obviously very good at his job. This shop also does the most fabulous hand bags, shoes and gloves. They have a shop next door that deals in 18 carat jewelry. All the bling but very pricey.
From there we joined a local tour guide and proceeded to walk around the various sites. We started at Piazza Santa Croce and saw the church where such notable people as Michelangelo and Galileo are buried.
This was just a see and view tour as no time to actually go into these historic buildings and sadly the Ufizzi museum was closed as it is a Monday. Other sites included Piazza Signoria, the Palazzo Vecchio, the Loggia die Lanzi and most beautiful of all was the Piazza del Duomo and it's cathedral with the Giotto Campanile and the magnificent East Door of the Baptistry, known as The Gates of Paradise. This shows the first ever 3D depiction of various scenes from the bible on these bronze doors which had been overlaid with gold. These are replicas as the originals are in a museum to protect against the elements, vandalism etc.
I must say I am not so enamoured with Florence; for the first time I didn't feel safe and the city seems dirty and stinks. Wafts of urine mostly which makes you think the streets are being used as toilets. Pretty disgusting really. Any way back to the tour.
We had a bit of free time to wander around before going to our meeting place for the bus ride to Pisa. This is about a 1 1/2 hr journey and once there we boarded a tractor type train ride to the Square of Dreams where the Leaning Tower of Pisa is.
We had been warned about the hawkers, (illegal immigrants who don't have a license to sell their wares), who are so in your face the minute you get off the bus. You just have to say no and keep going.
Peter our Tour Director said he has had some people from other tours ask where the tower is when they walk in! There is no mistaking this so I can't imagine what these people are looking for if they are not able to see the Tower the minute you walk in. That said Colin couldn't resist asking Peter where it was and Peter already understanding Colin's sense of humour, deliberately pointed him in the wrong direction.
It was quite different to what I was expecting. I had imagined a building looking yellowed with age, but this was quite white having been sand blasted clean. It is also in amongst a village like setting and not all on it's own in the middle of a field, as I had thought.
We had lots of time to look around here and again there were so many little souvenir stalls and cafe's. Even a McDonald's much to Colin's delight.
And so our stay in Florence comes to an end. Dinner tonight in the hotel and a bit of time up our sleeve to add some photos and post the last two blogs. Did you miss our updates?
Off to Switzerland tomorrow.
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