…to do another trip into Florence…this time by train – our nearest town is Bucine, where we caught the train into Florence’s main station at Santa Maria Novella…A very easy way to visit Florence and see the countryside too – the station at Bucine has lots of free parking which is a bonus…The ticket machine gave us a bit of grief though – as we got to the station, an English family was trying to get their tickets – with the help of the kids who were standing on tiptoe trying to shove coins into the slot! We’ve all experienced that feeling of helplessness when the clock is ticking and somebody in front is messing up – big time! The dad was trying to work out which button to press, kids were all talking at once and trying to shove coins into the machine, and here comes mum to say “what are you doing? there are people waiting!” (us and another 10!) to which dad replies “oh shut-up” and gets a swift elbow in the ribs from mum, and a “don’t speak to me like that” – all the while kids are yelling, machine is not giving out tickets, and the bloody train is due! Deep breath – we eventually got our tickets and when the train arrived not 5 minutes later, got into a carriage far, far away – or so we thought – until the peace was shattered again as they piled into ours … 
the ride into Florence took just over an hour on an excellent train – we sat upstairs which gave us a brilliant view of the beautiful Tuscan countryside…
Once at the station, we bought bus tickets for 1.30 euros each – buses 12 and 13 go all the way up to the Piazza Michelangelo – famous for its copy of David looking out over Florence…the bus bumped its way around the city and eventually up the hill to the Piazza just as the sun came out…
Famous Florence skyline…
Windy…but sunny 
Ponte Vecchio over the Arno…
Glorious Florence…
- The views over the city were gorgeous and we stood for ages just soaking them up…Steps lead down from the Piazza and wind down to towards the river past the Porta S Niccolo in the Piazza Poggi…
Porto S Niccolo…
Il Duomo…
Walking along the river towards the Ponte Vecchio was very quiet – not many people around – perhaps they don’t venture across the river much…? Over the Ponte alle Graze and on to the Uffizi again where we stopped to have our picnic lunch – sitting on the stone benches along the side of the Uffizi, we could see the queues hadn’t improved much from the last time we were here – the sign said 90 minute wait for tickets…we hadn’t planned on going in this time as we just wanted to wander again and take our time exploring with no fixed destination in mind – other than the train back at 5.30…
View from our lunch spot – great for people watching…and seeing the artists at work…
There are lots of artists displaying their work here – some tiny watercolours caught my eye as the detail was incredible…hours of work you might think, but watching the artist at work, it was clear to see he was able to churn them out quickly – years of practice no doubt…Lunch over, we headed into the Piazza de Signoria – I wanted to have another look at the sculptures by the Palazzio Vecchio and in the Loggia del Lanzi…a couple of photos don’t really do these sculptures justice, but seeing them up close was perfect…
Perseus slays Medusa…
David…
Hercules and Cacus…
All magnificent sculptures…one, which I couldn’t get a decent picture of – the Rape of the Sabines – was carved from one lump of marble…incredible…And, last but not least – the Fountain of Neptune in all its glory…
Fountain of Neptune…
Palazzo Vecchio…
Leaving the Piazza, we walked on down to Il Duomo and went inside this time…it is colossal, but somehow seems smaller inside? It is certainly not as ornate as the outside but the interior of the dome is quite beautiful…
Il Duomo…
Although the Piazza outside was really busy, the peace and quiet inside the cathedral was lovely and we took time absorb it all – there is so much to see here and in Florence as a whole, that I think it has to be done slowly to fully appreciate it…
Back outside, we debated climbing to the top of the Campanile but as the clouds had gathered, we decided to leave it until a sunny day…next stop was to be Galleria dell’Accademia, where Michelangelo’s original David is housed – as it was after 4pm, we thought we’d stand a good chance of getting tickets – err, nope – the queue went almost around the corner with a wait time of 1 hour…ah well, next time maybe – having seen 2 copies of David, I wasn’t too disappointed…
A bit of surreal street sculpture…
Walking back towards the station, we ambled past the Santa Maria Novella church again – the Gelato festival was still in full swing with a lot more people sampling the gelato this time. Threading our way through the streets, we found the Piazza San Lorenzo with the church of the same name – nothing to look at from the outside, but reading the blurb we decided to have a look inside…it is famous as it claims to be the first church in Florence and the Medici family had great ties here – so much so, that there is ‘treasure’ in the form of silver and other precious objects in the vault underneath the altar where some of the Medici family are buried – we had a good look around – no photos allowed but I couldn’t resist sneaking this one of the marble altar – the colours were just fantastic…
Marble altar in San Lorenzo…
The church itself is quite plain again but also has 2 of Donatello’s bronze pulpits – one of which is being painstakingly restored inch by inch…
Exterior of the church of San Lorenzo…
A quiet courtyard…
By the time we’d finished there and dodged the crowds in the markets lining the streets that surround the Piazza, it was time to head for the station – tickets bought, we got the train back to Bucine in time to pop into the supermarket and then headed home…a very good day out…
Tagged: architecture, David, Donatello, Florence, Il Duomo, Michelangelo, Ponte Vecchio, San Lorenzo, train 
