Weekend to Venice and Florence

Greg, Amanda, Dan and I took a weekend adventure to Venice and Florence. Though Venice sometimes has a… distinct scent, I think it is one of my favorite places. Why? No wheeled vehicles. It was so relieving to be able to navigate paths through the streets without the worry of being run over. The lack of wide streets to accommodate cars made the distances between destinations much faster too.

We had a few planned sites to visit starting with San Marco’s Piazza and San Marco’s. Some of us were pretty excited knowing that we were on the set of the Italian Job! But San Marco’s takes the gelato. The interior appeared as if it were one extensive mosaic. Everywhere we looked, there were little tiles glinting in the dim light, composing biblical stories for all to see.

From Venice we ventured to Florence to see the Duomo. We climbed the 414 stairs up the bell tower and then the 465 to the top of the dome. Well worth the effort for the view. I also picked up the book Brunelleschi’s Dome. It’s a narrative book telling the story of the construction of the dome, events that took place around the same time period, particularly those that affected the Dome’s process. It’s fun to read about the architect’s personality, how he worked, his triumphs and downfalls. It makes the construction of the dome a little more significant to really understand what went into the construction and design which the author explains in easy to understand terms. It also made the train rides much more enjoyable.