A Room with a View! Eina's room, in Hotel Scoti (I was staying in a different place). I fully admit to being quite jealous when I saw this! . The woman who runs the place very theatrically threw open the shutters to reveal the view, which certainly had the desired effect on me.
Good neighbours...shuttered windows like this are seen throughout Florence.
View of the Campanile by night.
I may not have had a view but my apartment was amazing. It was in what used to be an old monastery (quite spooky at night, actually - I made myself jump a couple of times when I saw my own reflection in a mirror on the back of the bathroom door)
A little sitting room in the apartment with beautiful frescoes. This room actually had a column in it that looked like it may have been part of a cloister in the original monastery.
It really was very nice.
View of the Duomo from the Campanile tower - a claustrophobic climb up over 400 steps to get to the top. But definitely worth it.
Beautiful terracotta tiled roofs as viewed from the Campanile.
Quite a view! Shame it was a bit overcast.
In the Medici chapel there was an interesting collection of Medieval reliquaries, holding relics of saints. This is supposed to be one of Saint Catharine's fingers.
Another reliquary with a piece of bone.
And another! They were quite fascinating.
This modem painting, in San Lorenzo's, was quite compelling.
Surely one of the fattest and ugliest baby Jesuses ever painted?
More conventional beauty...
View of the very ornate Duomo, Campanile and Baptistery.
I'm assuming these were for tourists.They look like toy police, until you notice their guns...
1000 yard stare. Or he may just be bored.
View across the River Arno.
Handy place for your boots.
A colourful shrine in Fiesole, a little village 20 minutes outside Florence.
A really impressive Roman amphitheater in Fiesole, with almost no one else there.
Remains of Roman baths near the amphitheatre in Fiesole.
A spooky tree among the archaeological remains.
These were the remains of an Etruscan and later Roman temple.
Spring is here!
The view of Florence from Fiesole. You can see now the Duomo dominates the city.
A cheerful little scene in the Franciscan monastery in Fiesole.
A beautifully painted Angel in the church of the Franciscan monastery.
Beautiful colours in this painting of The Adoration of the Magi.
One of the old monk's cells in the monastery.
Coming down from the monastery there was a beautiful view of Fiesole. You can see the three arches in the earlier picture towards the bottom of the picture.
Back in Florence, having a coffee in the beautiful old cafe, Gilli
It drizzled quite a lot when I was in Florence...this is outside the Baptistery.
Statue of the Virgin Mary in Santa Croce.
Wonderful frescoes in Santa Croce.
A fresco by Giotto depicting the death of St. Francis.
An elderly man enjoying the sun near Santa Croce.
The Rape of the Sabine, in Piazza Del Signoria.
Into the lion's den, in Piazza Del Signoria.
Near the Uffizi gallery.
Life imitates Art, outside the Uffizi gallery.
The famous Ponte Vecchio bridge.
An impressive church facade in the Oltrarno area of Florence.
Typical narrow Florentine street.
Ponte Vecchio in the distance.
The Duomo can be glimpsed from many streets in Florence .
Inside the ancient Baptistery, the oldest building in Florence, with sun rays streaming in. It was all a bit Dan Brown.
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