The "Did I REALLY see that?" city tour.

You have had a peek into the magnificent forest I spend much of my time wandering in so now I want to show you how a day in the city looks. There is always something in Florence to amaze, entertain and puzzle me.

Come exploring with me.

No one can visit Florence and not marvel over the amazing duomo (cathedral). It's huge marble facade dominates the skyline. Last visit to Italy I climbed to the top of that dome and watched the sunset. Awesome.

Below is another view of it taken in one of the narrow streets that open onto Piazza Duomo. I love  how some on the detail reflects light in the sunshine.

This 'old fashioned' option might appeal if  you want to give your weary legs a spell and still continue sight seeing. The horses must be used to the crazy traffic as not many streets are free of  cars and motor bike  here.  Other towns keep all but service and residents vehicles out of their centre.

Or the young at heart might enjoy a nostalgic horse ride on the colorful carousel. The horses have fabulous feather plumes.

This square is my favorite part of the city particularly towards evening when the buskers and hawkers come out.  As the carousel and Christmas lights come on the streets become crowded as locals and tourists venture out to take their daily stroll. This early evening stroll is a part of the culture every where I have visited in Italy. The streets and shops become so crowded there is hardly room to move some days, then just as quickly they all disappear about 8pm as they make their way to dinner.

 This group regularly play in that piazza. I love the sound of their  wooden pan flutes and I am amused by their American Indian constumes!!  People are always trying to sell you a scarf, novelty toy, etc in this area as well. They are not as persistent as the hawkers I have seen in some places (such as Bali)  and they accept a polite refusal and continue on their way. The hawkers are  usually black African refugees  trying to make enough money to survive so some days I give them a euro or two even though I don't want their wares.

The traffic continues to intrigue,  overwhelm and scare me at times. Below is the front and back of a black car parked in the city centre. I hope they were not wanting to drive off as even with the super power steering modern cars have here it would have been a mighty challenge. (I turned and saved these photos but when I attach them here they turn themselves back.... Grrrrr)

Shop window displays can be a real treat to behold, too. Check these out:

I love these elephants ! And check out the cute dogs (that won't turn around not matter how many times I try to save it rotated.)  Check out the colorful eyes and hair on those mannequins too.

Our view of what is political correct is not always shared here... can you guess what this shop sells? 

Translated that says "The green elephant" and it sells women's clothes in larger sizes.

So many of the buildings have beautiful architectural details, often of a religious nature even if they are not churches as Italy continuously oozes Catholicism. I love wandering around with time to notice and appreciate them and feel in awe of the age of many of them. It's also a pleasure to explore these areas with Giorgio as he can tell me more about the history of the building and often relates interesting architectural facts or shows me details I would have  missed. He studied architecture here.

And from time to find I have a friend or two visiting to savour Florence with. My friend Kaye, on the right,  now lives in Orvieto. Erica from WA was visiting  her and the two of them immersed themseves in some serious Christmas shopping in Florence.  I was impressed at how they never even raised their eyebrows let alone gasped at the prices in the designer shops whilst I felt very out of my comfort zone in my chain store jeans.

 

The shops that attract more of my attention display marvels like these. I had to go in to drool and came out with a book with multiple photos of this ceramic artist's work to keep inspiring me.

And finally, for those of you that don't have face book, an example of why I find  learning Italian confusing at times. As you can see these are called tampons here but their use is certainly different!