Florence

There is something about the skyline of Florence. Maybe it's that I have seen so many pictures of it, I'm not sure but I knew we HAD to go. Florence has a great small town feel even though the more I walked around the more I realized how large it actually it. We spent 2 nights in the city and in 2 different hotels (thanks to a heating problem at one).
One thing we saw that I don't have pictures of is Michelangelo's David. It is Awesome!!! I couldn't imagine how big it actually was. The whole gallery seems to be built around it. You can't take pictures so I don't have any from there. We also spent some time at the Uffizi Gallery which houses a lot of Renaissance Paintings, again no pictures allowed so I took lots of outside ones.

Florence Skyline - Love it! I read in our Frommer's guide about taking a bus up to a hill above the city to get this shot. Loved that tip!

Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore - It's hard to get a picture of the whole church since it is so big. I loved the outside of this church. The pink and green marble was simply amazing.

Giotto’s bell tower - Attached to the Basilica this tower is so ornate and has so much detail.

Bronze Doors of St. John's Baptistry - The gates were called "Gates of Paradise" by Michelangelo, completed in 1336 and showing scenes from the life of John the Baptist. These are actually a copy and the real doors are in the museum of the Basilica.

Inside the dome, The Last Judgement - Something that always amazes me is how they were able to do so many amazing paintings in such difficult places.

Florence is part of Tuscany and it is such a beautiful city. The hills that surround the city and peppered with houses. We stumbled upon the street market and enjoyed a little snow flurry. Our time was spent enjoying a city of art and romance.