As it turned out, we did meet again for breakfast, and yet another farewell. But this was the real thing - Peter and Yvonne were headed to the airport for their flight back to Sydney, via Helsinki! Like me, Keiran and Natalie were headed to Termini to catch a train - they were headed south, I was going north to Florence/Firenze.
Italian trains are not very expensive (especially considering how much I had already spent on this trip!), so it was First Class on the high speed train. Although for the first 20 km it was anything but fast as we crawled through Rome and nearby towns. After that we sped up to normal for these trains, and had a very pleasant journey, even though the train was full. Just as well I had a reservation.
I have no idea where this is; there were not many opportunities for photography from the train, for various reasons. But this is pretty typical of the scenery of this journey.
Arrival in Florence was pretty much on time, and then I found my way to the hotel. I had some difficulty finding it, as I could not figure out the numbering scheme. The hotel was on Via Nazionale, only about 2 blocks from the station. But the building with the correct number was not a hotel! So I ended up walking along the street looking for the hotel by name. And found it a few blocks away. The only thing I figured out was that the first number I found was actually not on Via Nazionale, but rather the area around the station.
The Hotel Corona d'Italia was a typical Italian hotel. Clean, generally quite pleasant, courteous and helpful staff. But, there was no picture on the TV; I could listen to it, but not see it! Not that I would have watched much anyway, but... I reported it to the front desk twice; the first time I was greeted by surprise; the second time a bell hop said it was a known problem. It was, of course, not fixed! It's probably still that way, 9 months later as I write this.
I had what is probably a room only used when full. Well, it was peak season, and my excellent travel agent had trouble finding a room in a hotel near the train station. The room was on the top floor - there was one, or perhaps two, other rooms on that floor. While normally the top floor is the best, in this case it had some disadvantages. The first is that there was little insulation under the roof, and hence the room heated up quite a bit during the day. It was air conditioned (with some reservations), but that did not work unless the card key was in the slot (as is common in Europe); of course, during the day, the card was with me, so the room heated up nicley while I was out. The other problem was that one of the elevators stuck into one corner of the room, and the mechanism was rather noisy. And the fire escape door was just outside my door. Normally a plus, but when you have a bunch of American teenagers staying in the hotel, and they feel it's necessary to not sleep at night, and that using the fire escape is the quick way around, and the door bangs with much gusto, you have the recipe for disturbed sleep. And thus it was. However, the step down bathroom was a nice touch!
After settling in, I went for a bit of a walk around the area, specifically looking for the location from which the tour buses operate - I had a reservation on a city tour for the next day, and wanted to know where it started! It was just a few blocks away, so that was very convenient.
I asked the hotel about nearby restaurants, and they recommended a trattoria. I was their first customer, having not eaten any lunch. It was a very enjoyable meal. Then back to the hotel to start walking the streets!
Dome from left side
Cathedral Front
Dome and Campanile
These photos show, at least partially, all 3 parts of The Duomo, which is actually The Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. The Duomo refers to the dome. There's also the Campanile (bell tower) on the right side. It's not really obvious here, but the Campanile is a separate structure. The cathedral construction began in 1296 by Arnolfo di Cambio, whose charter was to "build the most beautiful and honorable church in Tuscany". He died in 1310, yet it took another 100 years to finish by Giotto, Pisano and Talenti. It is the fourth largest church in the world.
The cupola (or dome) was designed and built by Filippo Brunelleschi (1377 - 1446). Its 42m (140 ft) diameter baffled builders, but not Brunelleschi. He was derided as a simpleton when claiming he could build it without wooden columns or framework, the then standard method, but which would be unwieldy for such a large dome. But he eventually won out, and after 16 years construction, was consecrated on March 25th, 1436, with the Pope in attendance. There are actually 2 domes, one within the other, and that coupled to the ribs, made the dome stable during construction.
Off the right hand side of the right hand photograph are statues of di Cambrio and Brunelleschi, the latter looking upward.
A better view showing the Campanile as a distinct structure. It was designed by Giotto di Bondone (1267 - 1337), who is considered the 14th century's greatest painter, with no architectural training! By the time of his death just the base was completed. The next level was built by Andrea Pisano and the remaining three floors by Francesco Talenti. Latter builders changed Giotto's original design. The shadow on these buildings is cast by the baptistry. At the time of construction, the un-Baptised were not allowed into the church. Hence, the baptistry was an external structure, thus allowing the baptism to happen without entry to the church building proper.
A detail view of part of the front of the cathedral. This is not the original front by di Cambio, which was destroyed in 1588. The current front was added in 1887, and is faced with varying Italian marbles; red from Maremma, white from Carrara and green from Prato.
Italy In July