Florence, Italy
April 25, 2004 - April 28, 2004

Florence (Firenze) is a tourist nightmare! My first mission, every time I go, is to get out as soon as possible. The best way to start is by staying outside of the city. Staying with my father had the much added benefit of being able to afford a nice villa in Fiesole. Many pictures are from that villa - nice family home open to regular guests. When I did bus down into town, I pretty much bolted over the river and up into the hills on the other side. I made it to some of the nicest neighborhoods up there. You'll see...

The Duomo
This is of importance because when this domed building was conceived, they didn't know how to build a dome.  
Da Vinci had a hand in the final design of course, but the method was pretty unsophisticated.  They made a huge 
pile of dirt in the shape of the dome, and built the dome around it.  Architecture has improved...












Florence just has too many sculptures to keep track of...








And suddenly there was a Volks Wagon festival driving through town!














Italian Gelato... Mmmm...




I took a walk up into the surrounding hills, and into some beautiful countryside neighborhoods.






Even smaller than the Smart Car!! I think the headlights double as foot warmers! Hahaha!


Common alternative to barbed wire in Europe.










View of Florence and the Duomo from the hill sides












Back in town




Outside of Florence in Fiesole, we stayed in this nice guesthouse.
This is where I like to spend my time relaxing instead of having an anxiety attack in town.








OK, so we spent a good amount of our time drinking wine... so what! It just seemed right. Hehehe