Florence and Siena

On to Florence to see the amazing sites there.  Here is the duomo in Florence.  It's one of Florence's most famous symbols and is Europe's fourth largest church, as well as the tallest building in Florence.

I loved seeing the architecture and sculptures that were so prevalent in all the churches we saw.

This is the baptistry.  Many famous people were baptized here, including Dante.

Probably our most favorite statue was Michelangelo's "David."  The "David" is inside a museum and you can't take pictures of it.  So, above is a replica of it sculptured by someone else.  This stands out in a plaza with many other sculptures.

I liked this sculpture of Michelango.

Here is one of the oldest bridges in Italy, Ponte Vecchio.  We didn't go across it, but Shelley said there were vendors occupying the sides of the bridge, and it was really fun to see.

Here are some of the people in our tour group standing near the river.

Here is our tour guide for our trip (Keri Evans-left) and our tour guide of Florence - right.  We also visited the Uffizi Museum.  I have to admit that it wasn't one of my favorites, as most of the paintings were medieval paintings of the Madonna and Christ or Christ on the cross.  I didn't really like the paintings, but some in our group really thought they were great.  I did like Michelangelos painting of the "Holy Family."

There were bikes like this one all over town.

I liked this BIG door knocker.

In addition to bikes, these little scooters were everywhere.  They just drove down the median line in between cars, buses and everything else.  We never saw an accident.

Here are more sculptures.  We enjoyed our visit in Florence.  On to Siena.

A building in Siena.

This is the Piazza del Campo, one of Europe's greatest medieval squares.  It sits in the heart of the city of Siena.  The Palio is Tuscany's most celebrated festival and it occurs at the Campo each year on July 2 and August 16.  It is a bareback horse race first recorded in 1283.  Dirt is placed outside the bluish line all around the Campo and that is where the horses race.  The races themselves last only 90 seconds each.  Thousands of spectators crowd into the piazza to watch the race, and rivalry between competitors is intense.  There are many festivities associated with this race and people take it very seriously.

Here is a picture of what the horse track looks like.

Of course, the gelato is everywhere and we couldn't resist the temptation to eat it every afternoon, especially after Shelley told us how her family had it every day.  What a treat!  My favorite was "tropical."  Yummy. 

Here is the duomo in Siena.  It looks almost lacey.  Very beautiful.

A shot looking down the backyards of some apartments.  We really enjoyed our time in Florence and Siena.  We also had a taster's lunch in Siena, where we were able to taste cheeses, breads, pizza, yummy desserts, etc.  That was fun.