MORE HEART, LESS SOLE

I'm finally feeling human again, and today was a perfect day to get out and reacquaint myself with bella Firenze.  I wanted to go to the train station to get a ticket to Siena for tomorrow, so I just walked in that direction.  The sun was shining, it was 60 beautiful degrees, and for the first time since I arrived here, I felt warm!

After purchasing my bus ticket (no trains to Siena), I stopped for a special menu lunch (only 12 euro) of riboilita, roast pork, a lettuce salad and water.  

I was lucky to get a table in the garden patio with this beautiful view.  I was the only one there.  



The food was just okay, but it was quiet and I was able to call my Mom without a lot of noise interference.  (I can't get cell phone reception in my apartment.)

After lunch, I just wandered the streets with a bizillion other people.  There was an open street market, which reminded me of all the market in Asia, except the wares being hawked were quite different.

Lots of leather purses, belts, shoes, and coats 

And a variety of sweaters, cloth coats, and touristy 
t-shirts.  

Loads of scarves here too, just like in Asia.

And masks....love
'em!





In one piazza, I stumbled onto a major tourist attraction--the Bascilica di San Lorenzo.  I hadn't seen this on my last trip here.  

This early Renaissance-style church was designed by Brunelleschi and constructed in the mid-1400's.

The New Sacristy, called the Medici Chapel, is largely the work of Michelangelo, as are the Medici Tombs it houses. Michelangelo also designed the Laurentian Library, which is located off the cloister. 

There were several Donatello pieces here.  I wasn't allowed to take pictures inside, so I borrowed these from the web.

One of his two pulpits

  

A sarcophagus in the form of a woven basket

  

Statue of John the Baptist

Detailing in the Old Sacistry

Donatello's tomb is in this church.

There were some beautiful domes, one of which showed all the constellations, but I couldn't find a photograph that did it justice.  This one was pretty nice.

This is only part of a large fresco of Bronzino's Martrydom of Saint Lawrence



When I came out of the church, the streets were even more crowded.  I wanted to find my way back to the Arno, but I lost my sense of direction and later discovered I was going the opposite way, but it was one of those days that you just didn't care.  

This looked like something I should check out some other day.

I loved this window display, it was exotic Italian.

Somehow I find my way  back to the Duomo.

And I was lucky to happen upon my second favorite statue in this city--David, the outside copy.  He stands in the piazza near the Uffizi.  My niece Shelley and I loved to sit in this piazza and wondered if people ever took all this for granted.

Neptune and his
sea nymphs play in this piazza, too.

This is a view of my neighborhood from across the Arno...bella!  The bridge is called Ponte Grazie.  Not sure how that translates--Thank You Bridge or Bridge of Gratitude?

I walked the streets of Firenze for hours.  I may have lost a layer of my soles today, but this city makes my heart sing.