Saturday 
firenze

Up early and out to Termini Station for the train to Florence.
It is hard to get decent photos from the window of a train. There's the speed of the train (which was around 250 kph) and the dirt and glare from the window. But anyway, here is some of the Italian countryside. Looks like a little villa and a vineyard. There were several vineyards passed on the way.
And here's the Asian guy seated across from me. He was reading his tourist guide. I was listening to a podcast.
One of the Apennine Mountains.
Blurry Santa Maria Novella train station.
A narrow street on the way to...
...the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, or as it is ordinarily called, the Duomo.
I'm guessing that's Mary with her boy on the facade of the church.
For a small fee you can climb the 463 steps up to the top of the famous dome. A lot of the climb looks like this.
A peek out a little window.
Part of the way up, at the bottom of the actual dome part, is a walkway around the bottom of the big fresco covering the under part of the dome. It depicts the last judgment. The not so lucky damned are at the bottom suffering all sorts of terrible fates, not the least of which is being eaten by that giant beast thing in the middle.
Someone observed the "Do not write on the walls" sign by writing on the sign instead.
Not a place for the claustrophobic.
Also not a place for the acrophobic, but a beautiful view for the rest of us.
Here we can see the Basilica di Santa Croce in the center distance, the Palazzo Vecchio on the right and lots of red tile roofs everywhere.
It's a long way down.
After the Duomo I will be heading over here, the Palazzo Pitti.
The face of one of the damned close up.
There's that fella on the cross again. He keeps showing up all over the place.
Quite an impressive fresco. It took about eleven years to complete and one of the two guys died before it was finished.
There other works of art lining the walls of the church like this one, La Commedia Illumina Firenze. It depicts Dante and the city of Florence, as well as Hell, Mount Purgatory, the earthly Paradise (with Adam and Eve) and the celestial spheres.
There is also a cool clock over the entrance (or exit if you are leaving). But I'm not sure it works. It was about 11:20 a.m. when I took this picture but the clock would seem to indicate that it is almost 1700 hours.
The Piazza della Signoria is pretty crowded with tourists. Everyone comes to see the Palazzo Vecchio, the old town hall of Florence.
This is not the David statue by Michelangelo. It is a copy placed at the original location in front of the Palazzo Vecchio where the original Dave once stood.
This is Florence's Fountain of Neptune. It is less violent looking than the one in the Piazza Navona in Rome. That one had Neptune about to stab an octopus in the head with his trident. He's just standing there in this one.
A statue of Cosimo I de' Medici, Duke of Florence and the first Grand Duke of Tuscany. The Medicis were kind of a big deal.
The Loggia dei Lanzi. If any of you remember my pictures from Munich (I'm sure all of you do), the Feldherrnhalle was modeled after the Loggia dei Lanzi. You know I was trying to think of some way to fit a Robert Loggia joke in here somewhere, but I just can't think of anything.
One of the statues in front of the Loggia dei Lanzi is Perseus with the Head of Medusa. I'm sure she had it coming.
Oh geez, it's the cops!

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