Firenze. It's a cool lookin' word and it's just fun to say, isn't it? In fact, as of today, as of this very moment, I'm declaring it my new favorite word until a cooler word comes along to supersede it (which may very well happen when I get to the Venice photos). Firenze (Florence) was yet another amazing place in Italy (is there any other kind?). So many little cobblestone side streets, bustling markets, statues galore... oh yeah, and the best frickin' gelato you will ever have. E-verrrrr. And the presentation of said amazing gelato in all the gelaterias was fantastic. How I missed a photo of this when we had gelato every day and sometimes twice is a mystery to me. I took a little over 3600 photos in Italy, you'd think one would have been of this dessert spectacle. Pffft... amateur. Firenze was our next to last stop on the honeymoon, and it was a wet one. Wait... that didn't come out right. I mean it pretty much rained the whole time; no down pours per se, but just enough where we had to carry around the IKEA umbrellas kindly provided by our awesome bed & breakfast. Speaking of our B&B, this first photo is of the room we stayed in.

This was probably my favorite B&B that we stayed in because the location was fantastic in the heart of the city only a stones throw away from the Uffizi Gallery, the Piazza della Signoria, and many street markets. It was very clean & cozy and had a nice big bathroom (not very common in Italy). Maybe the best part, though... no, scratch that... the best part was that they had a free help-yourself stash of these Little Debbie-ish snack cakes. I could've stayed for a couple more days just for those. I loved all the natural light that flooded through the window in our room.

The image below is pretty much a microcosm of our time in Firenze (are you getting tired of this word yet?). Drizzle, drizzle and more drizzle mixed in with an occasional side of sprinkling.

Florence, oops, I mean Firenze, is known for it's shopping, particularly the Italian leather you can pick up there. Kylie and I contributed to the local merchant economy by picking up a few things... she got a hat, scarf, wallet, something else that escapes me at the moment, and I picked up a GQ leather jacket. I couldn't wait to wear it when I got home, even with the warm Texas weather we were having. I put it on when Kylie and I headed out the night after we got back, and she just rolled her eyes at me. "Why are you wearing that? It's 72 degrees outside?" Yeah, but ya never know... it might get colder while we're out.

A little hat shopping for the missus... Doesn't she look cute?... and a little European I might add.

This is pretty much how I walked around all day... catching the sights from beneath my trusty, borrowed IKEA umbrella.

I believe the photo below was the last one I took before my D3 with an attached 24-70mm lens unwillingly took part in a 48" drop onto cobblestone. It was one of those slow motion, I-can't-believe-I'm-watching-this-happen-and-there's-nothing-I-can-do-about-it kinda things. I thought I had the camera strap on my shoulder when I was trying to juggle my camera bag and umbrella, and that's when the camera and lens did a nose dive, lens first, to the ground. Overall I gave the dive a score of 7.8... woulda been higher except it bounced twice on the landing. The 24-70 zoom lens is now a little less zoomy; it worked okay for a little bit, but now it's a little [read: completely] jammed and no longer turns to go lower than a 50mm focal length. Uh... Houston...

The view from our hotel room with the Palazzo Vecchio in the background. There was an open air market right below us.

Typical street market.

C'mon, how can you not laugh at this window display? Those crazy Italians...

This was a little detail shot of a wall surrounding the grounds of the Santa Maria Novella (church). There musta been 30 different cross variations carved out of stone like this one. Incredible. Unfortunately many of the churches are now enforcing 'no photography' restrictions when you go inside... talk about a tease. C'mon inside and enjoy the visual splendor that will surely amaze you. Oh, btw, we hope you can sketch well or have a photographic memory because you'll have to put that camera away before you go in.

The Duomo peeking above building tops. I would've zoomed out to get more of it, but, well, we've already covered the reason I couldn't up above.

Here are the famous Baptistry Doors at the Duomo. The good thing about going to Italy in the off-season is that you can get this photo without a gaggle of people in front of the doors. Actually I did have to remove one person from this image in Photochop because she was just standing there talking on her cell phone forever oblivious to my non-verbal hey-lady-this-is-probably-the-only-moment-in-my-life-I-will-ever-see-these-doors-so-would-you-mind-moving-over-a-few-steps-for-a-second-so-I-can-get-this-once-in-a-lifetime-image looks I was giving her. Apparently I didn't speak Italian body language so well.

The amount of detail in each one of these door panels is insane.

This was pretty much the lone cityscape image I got of Florence. The weather was just kinda blah the whole time and so most of other images where too hazy/foggy. I was fortunate enough to get this one which I think came out pretty well. For any photographer-types out there, this is an HDR image where I took one RAW image and exported 5 different images from it using varying amount of exposure compensation and then combined those using Photomatix Pro. You can see more detail about how I do this quick and dirty HDR method here.

Corny, I know... but we had to... it was a freebie.

This was a door knocker, people. A door knocker. Are you kiddin' me? I can only imagine the cost and detail of everything else inside. I checked Home Depot when I got back. They don't carry this brand.

Random shot in the Piazza della Signoria. The statues you see in the lower right in the Loggia of Lanzi (the covered building with the 3 arches) were some of my favorites in all of Italy.

A statue of Perseus slaying Medussa. Pretty graphic, but strangely magnificent. BTW, notice the camera angle with the strategically placed sword. [grin] This is a PG-13 blog, people.

Many of the statues in the Loggia of Lanzi were depictions of violence and tragic events, but they were incredibly raw and beautiful. The emotion in these pieces is haunting. I walked by hundreds of statues in Italy and kinda became indifferent about most of them after a while, but for some reason these really connected with me. They're very powerful pieces. This statue is called "The Rape of the Sabine Women".

Hercules killing the Centaur

No detail was missed. Notice the tears in this woman's face. And seriously, how did they carve out the inside of the mouth in this statue... and all the other mind-boggling details in all the statues for that matter? C'mon, folks, they were using primitive tools by today's standards. I can't fathom the time and talent it took to visualize and then actually carve out one of these things... with a the equivalent of a hammer and chisels! Are you kidding me? And what happens if you mess something up?... not like they had the luxury of control-z'ing their mistake. These guys were truly artists and masters of their craft.

What would a post of Italy be without the obligatory smiling Kylie shot.

On the fly capture of a replica statue of The David through a bus window.

Ah... and finally the posing wild boar at the front of the Mercato Nuovo (Straw Market), Firenze's equivalent to the bull on Wall Street. Tradition is to rub his nose for good luck. The Loggia del Mercato Nuovo was originally built back in the day to house things like straw, silk, etc., but today it's home to a daily street market. Our room overlooked this market and the boar statue. In fact, if you click on this link for a panoramic view of the market, look down the street to the left (when facing the boar), and then tilt up, you'll see a window open on the 4th floor. This was our room in the B&B we stayed in.

Next [and last] stop... Venice.