Florence

So after two days in Italy, it was finally time to see stuff.

leaving the villa i saw this road and liked it

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so we were headed to Florence.  it was about 1.5-2 hours away from us, to the north.  since we had two cars, we decided to meet at an overlook, and from there would go down into the city.

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me taking these photos. (photo credit to noa)

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at this point we still had reasonably nice weather out.  it was hot, and not too cloudy.  this couple was taking advantage of the nice weather and outlook for some wedding photos.

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we took the opportunity to take some photos of the family.

me, noa, and the tripod.  funny how you sometimes forget things in the photo and then it totally annoys you later that its there.

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having finished with the overlook, we parked near the old city, and started walking.  these were just some cool things we saw walking around.

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and then, it was already 1, and we were all starving.  so we sat down and had a pasta lunch

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after lunch, more walking around.  i started taking texture shots of walls and doors.

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okay, now, by this point we had been in florence for a few hours.  after the overlook the weather kept deteriorating.  it had not rained yet, but it was certainly threatening too.  we got to the Ponte Vecchio.  a famous bridge for always having shops on it, previously butcher shops, now all high end gold and jewellery stores.

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these cops just walked back and forth over the bridge

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its cool how the shops on the bridge are built.  they pretty much are able to close up into a wooden box, as can be seen on the left

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The little guy

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some cool looking streets.  its hard to get a good photo of a narrow street. especially with a lot of people walking around.

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so gelato.  we were into day three, and i had yet to taste any gelato.  so i issued a formal complaint to the complaint committee, filled out the appropriate forms in triplicate, and then we came across the first acceptable gelato place.  it was tasty

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This is a wild boar.

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more duomo’s and majestic towers

 

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so then i spotted a photo shoot occurring.  i couldn’t help but jump in and get a shot.

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these guys were hilarious

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inside the duomo

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and some street art

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phew, are you exhausted.  cause we were.  and hungry.  we had a good recommendation for a restaurant across the river from where we were.  so we got the car, and drove over there.  found the place with not …too.. much trouble, and were for sure one of the earliest groups there for dinner.  but we sat down, ordered a liter of wine for me, and got too ordering food.

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the antipasti platter.  omg.  so much good stuff

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gnocchi, these were probably the most disappointing but still good

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this was amazing.  it was risotto, and had strawberry sauce sprinkled on top…. (editors note: it was a basalmic and strawberry sauce)

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and a damn good pizza.  really good

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and then after another long and filling italian meal, back home, to rest, for more intense Italy sightseeing.  its only getting better from here.