Fiesole!

What a beautiful place.... especially when I have been missing the trees and grass. It was a small group today since about half of the group went to Venice. I was with Bob, Pam, Joe and his wife Kathy (I was the youngest by a good 20 years). I really didn't want to go to Venice, one historic city at a time.

So we had to catch the bus to get up to Fiesole, we missed the first one and decided to go into a church around the corner while we waited for the next one. I don't remember the name of it, but it was beautiful.... but aren't all the churches I have put pictures up beautiful, I think so. We didn't get a long visit because the next bus was due in 20 minutes.

It was nice to just watch the scenery while we traveled up the mountain, in the city I have to watch where I'm going so I don't run into anyone or get hit by the cars that take the traffic signs and lights as mere suggestions. The scenery was soooooo beautiful, and so worth the drive up. As soon as we got off the bus I just stood in the sunshine, closed my eyes, and breathed in more of the fresh air. I got some great pictures too. There was another church to go into before we got to the very heart of Fiesole, San Dominico, so we spent a few minutes in there. I have seen more churches in one week than I have in my life, well, maybe.

After the small tour of the church we got back on the bus to go up to the main piazza. While there we went to the Musei di Fiesole, which included the Roman baths, amphitheater, and a small museum. This place was amazing, rocks covered in moss and grass and a cool breeze to take some of the heat of the day away. I went down to the bottom of the amphitheater to test the acoustics for everyone, they were amazed, mostly at how fast I got down there. I was getting camera happy there, but had to hold back a little when I noticed my camera's battery was getting low. Once we made our rounds we headed for the little museum. It was some interesting things, but nothing caught our attention like the exhibition that was on the top floor.

A man by the name of Giovanni Ragusa had some of his work up on the walls and the most I can say about them is that I was disturbed. He said it was Mickey Mouses' alter ego. I should have taken a picture of it, but I opted to not have that memory. They weren't gory, just not the cute little mouse I grew up with. The artist was there and we had a little chat. I wanted to get him to sign his flyer for me, but how do you ask for that when you don't really like the work? So I just grabbed the flyer and thanked him for doing the group photo with us (Joe took that photo) and left.

You can see the Duomo and bell tower

By now we are ready to tackle the steep hill up to the top for the most spectacular view of the city of Florence. The walk was brutal, even for me, but as I have said many times before, the pain was worth it for the sight we had once there. I got enough pictures up there that I could do a panorama (if I can remember the right pictures to us). I took some photos with my phone and texted the picture to my sister-in-law who wrote back "Well hell, there is the missing green." Now, unlike most of the time here, the sun was out in full force, so I have some sun spots and a lot of glare in my pictures from up here, but I don't mind; much better than rain! A little further up the hill is another church and a monastery, Saint Francis of Assisi. I loved visiting here because it was so peaceful. No tour groups in the background making their noises, no children crying, just our small group of five. The walk back down after our visit was much easier, though I had to be ready to catch anyone that tripped since I was in the front.

Instead of heading right back to Florence, we got off the bus at the same stop before and had lunch. We each had our own pizza, and it was super good! I took a picture and then sent it to my brother, he was jealous. Amazingly enough we were able to finish the huge pizzas and not have to roll ourselves out of the restaurant. Well, Kathy couldn't finish hers, but we won't hold that against her.

Back in Florence we just kind of wandered around a bit. The crowds were huge so we took a lot of side streets home. We decided to meet up again at 7 for dinner