Florence! (part 1)

Last weekend (on October 1), 4 of us took a day trip to Florence and had a long and wonderful day of wondering around. It is a crazy beautiful city! There are also tons of museums which we didn't go into since they cost money (we'll go back later this month when they're all free for one day), but we saw a ton of stuff.

One of the first things we came upon was a ceramics & pottery market in this piazza. In the distance you can see one of the many awesome churches in Florence.

As we wandered we found the Teatro Verdi, one of the large theatre companies there. We grabbed a season brochure and might come back to see one of their shows. They're doing Cyrano and La Cage, plus a bunch of other shows. This is the theatre:

Here's the church from the first photo, but up close!

Eventually we found our way to the Duomo. Pretty much every Italian city has A duomo, which is basically their biggest church/cathedral. Florence's is awesome:

In that photo you can see a line of sculptures of people; they are the 12 apostles, i think.

And even though Italy, and especially Florence, has tons of delicious gelato, in case you need a taste of home:

(this is literally right next to the Duomo, by the way. we did not go in)

To end this post, here's something I find pretty amusing, though its an incredibly common occurrence in these old Italian towns. First, notice the crazy old church building.

Then look a little closer, especially in the bottom left corner. Yup. right next to this old church is a Tommy Hilfiger store. That's how they roll.

2 more florence posts coming soon. Also probably a facebook album of Florence photos, since I have a ton. :)