Michelangelo's David, Brunelleschi's dome, Ghiberti's gold doors. Pistachio and hazelnut gelato. We came to Florence to dine on art and ice cream.
Our first taste of Florence was a pear from a roadside stand near the city wall, where we parked our car. We then walked into the old city, with Vespas speeding by.
We crossed the picturesque Arno River.
Gretta practiced her photo skills on both the facade of the Duomo, Florence's great cathedral...
and the very photogenic Japanese tourists.
We explored the domed splendor of the Duomo interior.
We climbed Giotto's tower...
with its splendid views of the city.
We ogled Ghiberti's gold doors on the Baptistry, which told Old Testament stories.
David found his likeness, a small replica of Michelangelo's David. When David was a little boy and his parents went to Florence and brought home a statue of David, he asked, "Where's Nancy?" (his sister)
We strolled Florence's squares, with their artists and policemen, and its shops, with leather, panini, and fine-looking Florentine gentlemen.
Next stop was the Duomo Museum. The highlight was a Michelangelo Pieta, for which Cornelius, holding Christ, was modeled on Michelangelo himself. This Pieta was designed by Michelangelo for his own tomb.
We also loved Donatello's statues of Old Testament kings and prophets--Habbakuk...
King Solomon...
Jeremiah...
and his statue of Mary Magdalene.
The Bargello is one of the great sculpture museums in Florence.
The statue of David by Donatello was a bit feminine for our taste.
The statues by Michelangelo were magnificent--one of Brutus (who killed Caesar) and one of Bacchus (the god of wine). A happy surprise of our Florence visit was all the art by Michelangelo. Florence was Michelangelo's home city.
In Florence's main square, we saw a fountain decorated with a statue of Neptune...
and a replica of the famous "David" by Michelangelo.
We visited three Medici palaces, inhabited from the 1300s to the 1700s. In the Palazzo Vecchio, which is now used as a convention hall for the Mayor of Florence, we were intrigued by busts and statues...
Renaissance furniture...
walls and ceilings decorated in bright patterns...
and even intriguing windows.
We could imagine Michiavelli...
scheming in these private palaces and alleyways.
As the day waned, we hiked across the city...
to the Santa Croce, Michelangelo's neighborhood church. His tomb was there, as were tombs of a host of other great Florentines, from several centuries--Dante, Michiavelli, Galileo, Rossini.
Santa Croce was also filled with early Renaissance paintings embossed with gold, stained glass windows, and 13th century frescos by Giotto and Tadeo.
We also visited the Church of Santa Maria Novella, with its huge portrait of Christ on the cross hanging over the nave. 
And then we walked the mile back to our car, past artists drawing on the sidewalk...
arches and merry-go-rounds...
...store people and street people.
The Arno was magical in the twilight...
the gelato beckoned...
and the gold glistened.
