What can I say? Florence is drop dead gorgeous, eye candy for a photographer! Today’s walkabout took place in the midst of about 500,000 other tourists! However, no one could diminish the wonder of this city – the architecture, the public art, the tiny streets. Historical Florence at every turn is amazing!

I purchased a self-guided walking tour from Voice Map which, in a few hours, guided me to the most remarkable sights and buildings in Florence. You download the tour onto your phone. It guides you by GPS. You can take as long as you like at any spot; directions and commentary resume when you move on. Inexpensive and helpful.

First stop was, of course, the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, incredibly beautiful. None of my photos will do justice to the real thing.

On the same square is the Baptistery of St. John, my favourite building because of the fantastic marble work. The colours and patterns in the marble are stunning. If you click on any image, you will see an enlargement of it.

There is shopping everywhere. Street stalls, high value stores, artisans at work while waiting for buyers. Confusion could arise – I noted Rodin’s Thinker on a shelf of tchotchkes. Um, this is Sunday, are we now in Paris? If you click on the photo entitled “Rodin?”, you’ll see the figure circled in red.

Would you want this happy cariciaturist creating your image? He’s probably fed up with being in 500,000 tourist photos!

Public art is also everywhere. I learned in The Agony and the Ecstacy about famous families like the Medicis who commissioned art, much of which was meant to be public. Michelangelo’s famous David, scupted when he was 26 years old, was commissioned by the Arte della Lana, a council of 12 members, many of whom belonged to the woolen cloth guild. It originally stood in the Piazza della Signoria, but a group of Florentines, offended by the statue’s nudity, threw rocks at it. The statue now resides in the La Galleria dell’Accademia di Firenze which I will visit towards the end of my tour.

The Piazza della Signoria is the the main square of Florence with the civic government offices. Here are two views of the clock tower – one from this morning and the other from my seat at dinner last evening.

The Ponte Vecchio is one of the most famous landmarks of Florence. It is a pedestrian-only bridge now, and is lined with jewellry shops. They have a long history which dates back to the XVI century when Fernando I dé Medici decided that ohly goldsmiths and jewelers could occupy the ancient worshops for respectability purposes.

On the way back to my hotel at the end of the audio tour I passsed through a large square lined by touristy restaurants. Too pooped to look for an off-the-track authentic place to eat, I stopped at one and had quite a decent pizza. Who says tourist traps can’t cook?

I dined this evening at Osteria Belle Donne on the charmingly named Via della Belle Donne. I sat near an employee who staffed the street “wine window.” “Next,” he would say, “next order please.” Most often another employee of the restaurant would bring trays of drinks to be passed to the outside customers. On leaving I had to get a snap of the other end of these transactions. By the way, my dinner was yummy!

That’s it for Florence for today. I will return in a week or so for my tour’s final four days. Gillian arrived this evening, tired and hungry. I hope I’m done with jet lag, as tomorrow we take the train to Lucca to start our tour. Arrivederci. Ci vediamo presto.