I have an hour before we check out of our hotel ("Pensione Pendini"), just enough time to jot down some observations about Florence. It's an hour and a half northeast of Rome by train. The land in between is mostly rural; there are sunflower fields, bright yellow against a backdrop of green hills and furiously blue Italian sky. Maybe you've seen pictures of Florence. Above and from a distance it is mostly red roofs with a large red dome predominating. That dome is a Renaissance cathedral designed by an Italian architect in the 1500s. What I was not prepared for was the church itself, which is gigantic and made entirely of green, pink and white marble. It is marvelously exuberant and somehow reminds me of a birthday cake. Whether it agrees with you depends on your notions of what a church should look like. I have the impression that here in Italy, birthday cake will do just fine.
Of course, Florence is not nearly so big as Rome. And unlike big brother,wherein ancient ruins and Renaissance buildings are randomly thrown together, Florence shouts "Renaissance." You find yourself thinking a lot about Michelangelo and da Vinci, both of whom lived here. Indeed, we visited one of Florence's famous museums yesterday and actually saw Michelangelo's statue of David, naked with sling in hand.
But the town is not stuck in the past. They make a lot of leather and silk goods here, which means that it is one of the fashion capitals of Europe. If you like to shop, this is a great place to come. Beautiful gowns, dresses, scarves and especially leather goods. All of it is fairly expensive. The one exception seems to be men's neckties. You can buy them off corner carts for 8 to 10 Euros (12 to 15 dollars) which is cheap for a nice tie.
The weather has been quite hot. It was 93 yesterday (compared to Rome, which was 84). You get a bit sweaty walking around. The nice part is that in the evening you can comfortably sit outdoors and indulge the Italian propensity for fine, leisurely dining. We have been doing a lot of that, but we walk so much during the day that I don't think we're gaining any weight. Who knows? I haven't seen a scale since we left and I don't plan on seeking one out.
As in Rome, there are thousands of people on the streets, mostly tourists. Not so many Americans as in Rome, but plenty of people from Europe, the UK, even Australia. It's not hard to figure out why they come. This place is about as picturesque as you can imagine. Narrow streets, beautiful architecture, the Arno River flowing through the middle of town. And yes, shopping wherever you go. There's a famous bridge over the river that's lined from bank to bank with nothing but jewelry carts and stores (Florence is also the place to go for jewelry). It's sort of a Renaissance Disneyland, in the same sense that Jerusalem is a spiritual theme park. I wanted to remind myself about real life so I took a long walk yesterday, out of the core of the city, into the less exclusive areas. It's not so picturesque, but it still looks like it'd be a fun place to live.
Our train leaves for Rome at 6 p.m. Tomorrow will be a big day for sightseeing. Many of the main Rome attractions are closed on Monday, so we'll need to pound some serious pavement. If we go to church, it will probably be Roman Catholic. I haven't seen a Protestant building since we came.
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