The Night Is Ours To Keep

As soon as we got to the hotel all we wanted to do was sleep. So we took nine hours to recover and once we used a pay phone to call our families and tell them we were safe, it was around 12:30 a.m. We decided that instead of trying to go back to bed, we would take a nighttime walking tour of the city and find what there was to see. We did not take a map or go on a group tour since it was so late at night, we just had ourselves to rely on and as a result we found some great surprises along the way. The pictures are not so good because I am still learning how to use my camera, but these hold a certain importance to me because they are my first images of the city through my eyes. 

Having no idea where to start, we headed South, knowing that sooner or later we would bump into the Duomo and along the way we stumbled upon our first cathedral, Santa Maria Novella. Inside there is Masaccio's famous fresco, "Trinity" as well as an open garden area that sits below a gigantic bell tower. When it turns daylight and I have time I'll go there and take some pictures. 

Florence just got done celebrating their Christmas (called Epiphany) so there were many lights and decorations still hanging up. This tree stood near Via Belle Donne (The Pretty Woman), making it an appropriate place to set up such a beautiful tree.

We kept going down many back allies and long narrow streets, passing by many midnight lovers and police officers and soon we were in the presence of the massive Duomo. I did not take a good picture of the golden dome, since it was so dark out, but this picture gives you an idea of how enormous it is. Even after seeing a bunch of pictures of it, I still had no idea what power it would bestow. We must have walked around it three or four times and still had no idea what to make of it. Not many people were there  so it was really cool to get some one on one time with the massive Duomo. I'm sure I will have many more pictures of it later.

We did find a map later on and found that using it to find piazzas or cathedrals was much more confusing rather than just going it alone and stumbling upon them unexpectedly. Plus, it was more fun.

Here is the replica of the David at Piazza della Signora, which has been my favorite place to go so far. This statue is huge to say the least but I believe the real one at the Accadamia Galleria is much bigger in size and made of real marble, so I will soon be seeing that. 

In front of the statue of Neptune. Even though we were suffering jet lag we were pretty enthusiastic to be out and about in Florence. 

Here is a bad picture of the Arno River. It was really cool to see the Piazza della Signora, the Uffizi gallery and the Arno all so close together. From here we set off to find the Piazza del Michelangelo, at the top of the city.  

These chains were covered in locks from bikes. We thought that maybe some bicycle riders left them for others to use. There were two other posts with just as many locks on the m

Right outside the Uffizi Gallery. Jamie was immediately attracted to the statue of Leonardo Da Vinci due to his massive beard. 

We saw this graffiti art all over the city, especially one particular artist who liked to defile the NO ENTRY signs posted all around the streets of the city.

More graffiti art we found as we ascended the long winding white staircase up to the Piazza del Michelangelo. 

Although it isn't the best quality, I really love this picture because it reminds me of the gorgeous view from the top of the Piazza del Michelangelo, a sight that cannot be expressed in words. I thought of so many things while I was up here, looking at the entire city of Florence. I think this is where it really hit me that I was here, away from home, in a completely new part of the world, seeing a different kind of beauty that I never thought I would see. The lights, the towers, the joyous horns of cars and laughter of drunken lovers leaning over the balcony-- all of these things painted a picture that I will never forget.

More graffiti art on the walls of many shops and streets...

Statues from the Piazza della Signora...

Dante

David

Perseus' butt...

I can't remember but I think this is 'The Rape of the Sabine Women'. I'll go back and take more...

Close-up of Hercules wrestling the Centaur...

Our journey ended around 6:30 a.m. We had been walking the streets for almost seven hours and still had so much to see. We ended up sitting on the sidewalk next to the Duomo, staring up at its towering pillars and arches. We were completely alone except for a single owl, who hooted us back home.