We arrived in Florence after taking 1 bus and two trains. I saw hills of vineyards, herds of sheep with a sheep dog or two keeping them together with no human in sight, and terra cotta towns covering hillsides in the distance. I will be posting something on Amalfi which describes the bus ride.
Florence has many beginnings for architecture and art. Bruneleschi s Duomo was the first round dome since the classical period and is still the fourth largest dome in the world. We saw Donnatelli s statue of Saint Mark among other wonders. We climbed forever up a hill to a church who s site was chosen when a saint was beheaded in the valley and he picked up his head and the church was built where he finally fell. It is a beautiful church with many mosaics and some paintings which were some of the first to show perspective. When we got there we heard some organ music. Then about 5 monks assembled in a small chapel and had a vespers service complete with chanting. It reverberated throughout the church. Just what I had always imagined it would sound like.
I have no photos from the day because I am not on my computer due to crazy pricing systems for wireless. The worst is that I can get into my verizon webmail and I am working on a European keyboard and I cant find a forward slash, a colon, an at sign or an apostrophe.
We are staying at the Hotel California which was built around 1500. The architect is doing a fine job of preserving the feel of the place.
Caio!
No comments:
Post a Comment