31 Days of Traveling to Europe: Day 22

31 Days of Traveling to Europe: Day 22 - A Full Day in Florence


An art installation on a street in Florence

Our day started with some stress - the hotel didn't have a reservation for us for tomorrow night or any record of our tour group meeting up there. While the desk tried to sort things out, we distracted ourselves with some sights. We found out that today is a holiday honoring the patron saint of Florence. Unfortunately this meant that the Duomo was closed for a special service so we started by climbing the Duomo's bell tower.

As we walked the streets, a parade passed by.

Here is Ponte Vecchio.

The wait to get into the Duomo was worth it. It was beautiful.

These are the doors on the Baptistry.

We got good news from the hotel staff, our tour group was booked in another hotel owned by the same company. It was just a few blocks away. What a relief. With that off our minds, we went back out to see more sights. We came upon another parade. It was like something out of "Under the Tuscan Sun".

Another wonderful experience was the pottery shop we wandered into. At first the proprietor seemed cold and mean but then he warmed up and started talking to us. He told us that the store had been in his family for 60 years and everything there was handmade. I wanted one of everything!

One of the church plazas had been converted to a football field for the annual game to determine the champion of Florence.

On the way back to the hotel, the sky opened up and we got drenched. We didn't let it stop us though. After drying out a little, we headed back out for some pizza. It was a delicious way to end our day in Florence.

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