Florence in January

We kicked off 2015 with some travel to Florence and Naples. The grandparents were visiting and we all had a great time exploring these two completely different cities. This post will be about Florence, with a Naples post coming later.

Florence was magical, really. I loved the atmosphere. Some of that may be contributed to the Christmas decorations. Italians keep their decorations up until January 6th, which is the Epiphany holiday. Epiphany is based on the story of the three wise men offering gifts to baby Jesus. Italians typically have a huge feast in celebration each year on January 6. On January 7, all the decorations are promptly taken down.

Anyway, the heart of Florence was decked in lights. Each street had it's own design. I thought it would be fun to capture some of the different street lights.

Ponte Vecchio, translated "Old Bridge" is the oldest bridge in Florence, and the only bridge that was not destroyed during World War II. It still has shops located directly on the bridge, which is apparently how things used to be. The shops are mostly jewelers and souvenir sellers, whereas they used to be butchers and such. By viewing the bridge, one would think the shops are about to fall into the river, because they hang out over the side of the bridge and are held up with wooden beams.

One night, we walked to a recommended restaurant, only to find it closed (since we hadn't past the January 6th holiday yet), so we found this cute little pizza joint that was very crowded. Crowds usually mean good food, and we were hungry, so we went in and enjoyed a wonderful pizza with drinks. The tables were simply wooden barrels topped with glass, and customers have the tradition of leaving their mark or a note shoved under the glass for future customers to read. We left ours, the grandparents left theirs, then Gabriel wanted to write his own too.

Viewing the many street lights is fun, but the Florence duomo steals the show.

I climbed to the top of the dome with Rick and Janice. It was a lot of stairs, but so worth it!

On our way up and down the dome, we were able to pause and take in the very unique paintings on the inside. See the grey ledge that wraps around the dome below and above those round windows? That's where we stood to take in the view.

Of course, if you're in Florence, you have to see The David by Michelangelo. He was much larger than I expected. Gabriel thinks Michelangelo was confused, because it was Goliath who was the giant, not David.

We practically ran through the Ufizzi gallery since we arrived with only 45 minutes left before closing time. Hope just enjoyed running the halls and talking to the statues.

For me, part of the magic of Florence was in the little things that we hadn't even planned for. Like when we were wandering home one night and stumbled across this beautiful church. What a nice surprise!

Or walking past cool castles.

We also took a day trip to Pisa to see the leaning tower.

Florence was beautiful, and I enjoyed every minute of it!